Thursday, August 07, 2008

By LORI POTTER
Hub Staff Writer

HOLDREGE - An agreement to divert excess Platte River flows into severely depleted Elwood Reservoir has been signed by all the parties involved.

Now, they must wait to see if a promising Rocky Mountain snowmelt produces South Platte River flows high enough to implement the plan.

The agreement between Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and Tri-Basin Natural Resources District runs through the end of 2008.

In years with a full irrigation supply, CNPPID stores water from Lake McConaughy in Elwood Reservoir and releases it late in the irrigation season. However, 2008 is the fourth straight year for water allocations (6.7 inches per acre), which means no storage water will go into Elwood.

Game and Parks officials are involved because of concern for the reservoir's fishery. DNR will ensure that senior surface water rights and target Platte River flows set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are met before any water can be diverted.

Tri-Basin directors, who approved the agreement Tuesday, are most concerned about groundwater recharge Elwood Reservoir seepage.

Tri-Basin and the commission will equally share the $8.80 cost per acre-foot of water diverted. The payments to CNPPID are for lost hydropower generation because the diverted flows will bypass the J-1 and J-2 plants near Johnson Lake.

CNPPID Civil Engineer Cory Steinke hopes to see a repeat of 2007, when wet conditions allowed diversions in May and August totaling 7,378 a-f of water. That raised Elwood Reservoir by more than 18 feet.

South Platte River flows also were used to fill irrigation canals, which allowed Central to keep storage water in Lake McConaughy longer. Steinke said that helped save 100,000 acre-feet of water last year and 5 to 6 feet of elevation in Lake McConaughy.

Snowpack throughout the Platte Basin now is above 100 percent. "It's the best we've had in eight years," Steinke said.

Large, drought-depleted reservoirs in Wyoming have more than enough room to capture any excess runoff in the North Platte Basin before it gets to Lake McConaughy. So the keys to Nebraska's 2008 water supplies are timely local rains and South Platte River flows.

Steinke said the South Platte snowmelt is late and still is a week or more away. That means it either will last longer or may come so fast it will be difficult to capture.

When several Tri-Basin directors raised concerns about a paragraph in the agreement, General Manager John Thorburn reminded them that the big picture is important. "This is the most cost-effective way to deal with Platte and Republican issues," he said, noting that reservoir seepage also is credited to the Republican Basin water supply.

In other business, the directors discussed the need to ensure that all lien holders have consented to transfers of certified irrigated acres from one property to another.

A key issue is whether a transfer applicant should be required to pay for a limited title search and include it with consent forms from all lien holders listed as conditions for transfer approval. It was estimated a title search costs around $100.

Issues raised include the costs when several small parcels are involved, each requiring a title search, and difficulties in getting consent when there are limited partnerships and multiple landowners.

A motion to require a title search was tabled until the June 10 board meeting. Thorburn and legal counsel Jeff Cox of Holdrege will prepare a step-by-step description of the proposed process.

The board voted to table pending transfers and not accept new applications until the issue is settled.
Also Tuesday, the directors:

• Agreed to work with Central Valley Irrigation of Holdrege on summer demonstrations of moisture-sensing equipment for lawns described by CVI's Don Masten. He said the equipment, costing about $150, can help save significant amounts of water, and he asked Tri-Basin officials to consider a grant or cost-share program for area communities.

• Approved an office lease with the Phelps County Ag Society for 2008-09 that includes a 6 percent increase for rent and custodial services, or about $140 more per month.

• Were told by Natural Resources Conservation Service District Conservationist Kevin Breece of Holdrege that there have been 35 applications for a federal Conservation Security Program for the Middle Republican Watershed that includes portions of Phelps, Harlan, Franklin and Kearney counties in Hub Territory. The application deadline has been extended to May 30.