Click the link to read the article on the KUNC website (Alex Hager). Here’s an excerpt:
January 11, 2024
Nebraska is moving forward with plans to build a canal that would redirect some South Platte River water out of Colorado. The state bought about 90 acres of land in Colorado as part of construction plans. The purchase marks an important step for the Perkins County canal project, since critics have questioned its feasibility from the start. The canal was first pitched in January 2022 by then-Governor Pete Ricketts as a way for Nebraska to protect its water supply against rapid development on Colorado’s Front Range. The plan would take advantage of a 1923 legal agreement about sharing the South Platte. The late-December land purchase is so far the only one Nebraska has made in conjunction with the canal project. The state spent about $90,000 on the parcel southeast of Julesburg. Jesse Bradley, the state’s deputy director of Natural Resources, said it could be used “in conjunction with construction activities” and may not contain the canal itself…
[Jim] Yahn detailed a few hurdles that could get in the way of the project’s completion. First, they might have trouble filling the canal with water in the first place. Some nearby Colorado reservoirs have legal priority over Nebraska water users, and because the bulk of the water would be moved during non-irrigation season, it could literally get frozen by wintertime temperatures on its way to Nebraska. Yahn, who formerly served as the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s director for the South Platte basin, also said Nebraska should be prepared to spend a lot of money in order to acquire land along the canal’s path.
