Reservoirs filling; drought effects remain

CURTIS -- Recent rainfalls are filling area reservoirs, but it will be years before Southwest Nebraska irrigators make up for the first years of the drought, a Natural Resources Manager said.

In a monthly reservoir report from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Middle Republican NRD Manager Dan Smith told the NRD Board of Directors that with the recent intensive rainfall, peaks at Cambridge and Orleans exceeded the historical record. Harry Strunk Lake is full, and Hugh Butler Lake has come up a few feet, he said.

Harlan Reservoir jumped nearly two feet in the last 30 days, Smith added.

But "How does this recent rainfall affect our compliance in the Republican River settlement?," Director Kevin Fornoff of Hayes County asked.

Smith then presented a handout from the Republican River Compact Administration, which showed that, basin wide, the "computed beneficial consumptive use" for 2003 and 2004 exceeded the allocation by over 65,000 acre-feet, a number which includes a lag effect for the year 2002.

"What this means is that we're going to be making up for nearly 65,000 acre-feet over the next three years," Smith said.

At its meeting Tuesday, the NRD board also reviewed and approved requests for temporary water transfers, from Brian Wright to Jerry Mustion. Mustion requested a transfer of the allocation for 204 acres.

Smith presented a draft budget. The budget needs to be approved for publication in August and the public hearing scheduled for September.

The Water Policy Task Force Tour is scheduled for August. The tour will start in Holdrege on Tuesday, Aug. 2, travel to McCook, touring various facilities along the way, and return to Holdrege on Wednesday, Aug. 3.

The tour will stop at the Fairgrounds Building in McCook from 3 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 2, where Gov. Heinemann will be speaking. This meeting will be open to the public.

Assistant Manager Bob Merrigan reviewed a Livestock Waste Control Application for Furnas County Farms.

The board voted to accept this application with the condition that monitoring wells be installed.

The next regular meeting will be on July 12 in McCook at the Fairground Community Building beginning at 8:00 a.m.

Full text of the meeting minutes, kept current, is available during regular business hours at the NRD office in Curtis or on the web at http://www.mrnrd.org.