Republic River Compact signers would be amazed

Many of the first European settlers who came to Southwest Nebraska were forced to leave after finding it wasn't true that "the rain follows the plow" and rainfall wasn't reliable enough to be able to count on field crops every year.

Then came the advent of large-scale irrigation, first from dams built in response to the Republican River flood of 1935, then from pumping groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer into ditches, pipes and center-pivot irrigation systems -- dozens of which are produced at McCook's Valmont plant each week.

Back in 1942, when groundwater irrigation was still in its infancy, three states agreed to divide up the most reliable source of water, the Republican River, 11 percent to Colorado, 49 percent to Nebraska and 40 percent to Kansas.

But it wasn't long until modern irrigation and conservation measures saw less and less water make its way into the Republican River and across the border into Kansas.

Kansas filed suit, and while Nebraska has escaped massive penalties so far, it has been struggling to keep the courts and Kansas satisfied ever since, resulting in Monday's order to release water.

Now, in the middle of another drought, farmers are reduced to looking hopefully to the sky for rain again, and signers of the Republican River Compact would be amazed to learn how states are attempting to comply with that document.

Colorado and two Nebraska Natural Resources Districts are finding the water to meet the downstream state's demands by pumping water out of the ground at great expense and dumping it into the river upstream from measuring points.

It may meet the letter of the law, but it reminds us of the solution found for dealing with TCE contamination of groundwater in southeast McCook. The remediation plant basically pumps polluted water out of the ground and evaporates the TCE, turning it, into effect, air pollution.

Let's hope a long-term resolution is found that takes modern conditions into account at a more reasonable expense.