Drought prompts Nebraska to divert water from the river it shares with Colorado

DENVER – With many Western states experiencing severe drought and vying for their share of dwindling water, Nebraska is taking a new tactic by trying to divert water away from a river it has. with Colorado.

Nebraska Legislature This Week approved construction of a $53 million canal in Colorado that would reinforce its water from the South Platte River that flows through both states.

As climate change makes the West hotter and drier, cities and states will step up efforts to find and secure water, and Nebraska’s preemptive move could be the premise, experts say. for how Western states respond as competition for natural resources increases, experts say.

Nebraska law gives the state the authority to draw water from the Platte in a move that state officials said would secure its part water the river and help protect communities, businesses, agriculture and the environment across the state of 2 million people.

Both states have the right to withdraw from the river under a 1923 regulation. Nebraska officials said they decided to exercise the right to build the canal to disrupt any major water projects Colorado may have planned for River.

Denny Vaggalis, legal counsel for the state of Nebraska, and Senator Mike Hilgers, a Republican who introduced the law, said: “Colorado is going to start working on a number of water projects that will take up much of the water that Nebraska has. would have benefited.”

“We’re going to go ahead and build the canal to make sure we get that water.”

The proposed canal would not drastically reduce Colorado’s fish stocks because water would be redirected eastward, water experts said. (Nebraska is located northeast of Colorado.)

Colorado also receives water from the Colorado River, which supplies six other states and ranks as the most endangered in the nation, according to a new report. new research by American Rivers, an environmental advocacy group.

But the state’s population is growing, and so is consumption. Colorado had 5.8 million residents last year, 800,000 more than in 2010, according to the US census.

Over the past two decades, the West has been the driest place in 1,200 years, according to a February report by the journal Nature Climate change.

Water level in largest reservoir in the countryLake Mead on the Colorado River along the Arizona-Nevada border, has dropped to its lowest level ever, according to the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

“We don’t have a lot of water to supply right now in this drought cycle,” said Peter Bennett Goble, a climatologist at Colorado State University.

The Nebraska Legislature passed the canal law in a 42-4 vote and it was signed by Governor Pete Ricketts, a Republican, on Monday.

“Nebraska belongs to a reactionary regime,” said Anthony Schutz, an associate professor of law and water expert at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I don’t know if the state would make it without seeing Colorado really invest in its water resources and in the South Platte basin.”

He estimates the canal project will ultimately cost between $750 million and $1 billion.

“It’s like building a highway,” he said.

Kevin Rein, Colorado state engineer and director of the water resources division, said he wasn’t sure what water projects Nebraska officials were referring to, but it likely stemmed from a group of water projects that didn’t. The source was developed in 2015.

He said Colorado would not stand in the way of construction.

“We’re not going to stop Nebraska from getting the water they’re legally entitled to,” Rein said, adding that Colorado has always adhered to the agreement and has a good relationship with Nebraska. “It’s not my goal to try and stop it.”

But the Colorado governor’s office said it was not enthusiastic about Nebraska’s plan.

“This is still just a canal to nowhere, a political stunt and a waste of taxpayer money,” said Conor Cahill, a spokesman for Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat. . “This misguided decision continues to threaten the private lands of hardworking farmers and ranchers who cannot get more water for Nebraska or Colorado. Totally wasted. ”

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