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47 Nebraska is the place where the arid West begins. Two-thirds of its length falls on the western side of the 98th meridian, the fixed marker of a variable point—shifting from wet to dry years—that defines precipitation of twenty inches a year or less. Nebraska farmers are world leaders in the production of grain, and the state’s economy is dominated by high-input, high-output–production agriculture and its support services. This is all made possible by extensive reliance on irrigation water, most of which is pumped to the surface by wells tapped into aquifers tributary to the Platte River and to other surface streams that, in turn, are Platte tributaries. Nebraska’s Platte River water sources change character from west to east. Snowmelt from Wyoming (the North Platte) and Colorado (mostly the South Platte) is critical to the entire river but especially so in western and central Nebraska, where there is high dependence on return flows from diversions in the upstream states. To the east, the river is greatly supplemented by flows from two major tributaries; near Columbus, the Loup River drains into the Lower Platte, and further downstream the Elkhorn contributes its flow at a point north of Ashland. Each of these tributaries, along with other streams, is importantly fed by waters stored in a portion of the Ogallala aquifer underlying the grassy sandhill region north of the central Platte. Nebraska is second only to California in irrigated area within the United States (Table 5.1). The story of Nebraska irrigation has been well told by others (Ashworth 2006; Dornbusch, Vining, and Kearney 1995; Dreeszen 1993; Opie 1993; Smith 1989), and I will not attempt to repeat it here. By the time the Platte empties into the Missouri, it has drained about two-thirds of the state. C h a p t e r 5 Nebraska in a Federal Nexus threat to the Big house N eBr a sk a iN a Feder a l N exus 48 Table 5.1. Irrigated Acreage, Selected States, 1997 and 2002 State 1997 Acres 2002 Acres California Nebraska Texas Kansas Colorado Wyoming 8,886,693 7,065,556 5,764,295 2,695,816 3,374,233 1,749,908 8,709,353 7,625,170 5,074,638 2,678,277 2,590,654 1,541,688 Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2002 Census of Agriculture, State Data. At http://www. nass.usda.gov/census/census02/volume1/us/st99, table 10, accessed December 8, 2006. Whereas irrigated acreage in every other state listed in Table 5.1 declined over the reported six-year span, it is notable that irrigated land expanded in Nebraska; the increase was almost entirely the result of additional agricultural irrigation wells. In the interior West, Nebraska is truly the “big house” of irrigated agriculture. Nebraska Water Users iN a Federal NexUs Kingsley Dam, the heart of a non-federal project, closed its gates in 1941 to begin filling Lake McConaughy on the North Platte near Ogallala, Nebraska. The hydraulic earth-fill dam is a 3-mile-long mound that has created the largest reservoir in the Platte Basin and, for that matter, is by far the largest pool of surface water in Nebraska. Knowledgeable Nebraskans are fond of pointing out that the volumes of all the other lakes in the state could—conceptually at least—be poured into Lake McConaughy twice and still leave remaining capacity. When full, the surface area is about 30,500 acres and consists of a maximum allowable storage capacity of 1.79 million acre feet (USFWS 1997a: 15). When filled to capacity Lake McConaughy measures 3 miles wide and more than 20 miles long. In addition to providing a historical average of 285,200 acre feet of irrigation water each year, the lake’s water serves hydropower needs, flat-water recreation, and groundwater recharge for irrigation wells. In its early years, the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID, or Central) managed its own marketing of electrical power, but in 1970 a specialized organization was established for this purpose—the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). Two Districts The CNPPID delivers irrigation water to farmers who work 215,000 acres of high-quality farmland in central Nebraska. Central’s network of canals and hydroelectric production facilities stretches over 170 miles along the North Platte and the main stem (Figure 5.1). CNPPID operates a 75-mile-long supply ditch, [3.137.180.32] Project MUSE (2024...

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