Official: Water accounting worth $1 billion over 50 years

Jesse Bradley, explains the latest developments in Republican River litigation Tuesday afternoon, during the water conference hosted annually by the Middle Republican Natural Resources District. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Neb. -- If changes in the accounting procedures of the Republican River Compact were "monetized," they could be worth up to $1 billion over the next 50 years.

Jesse Bradley, department head of the Integrated Water Management Division of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources in Lincoln, told those gathered for the annual Middle Republican Natural Resources District water conference in McCook Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that accounting procedures of the 1943 river compact should be changed improves Nebraska's accounting by 8,000 to 20,000 acre-feet each year, Bradley said, "If we monetize the value of that change over the next 50 years, it could be worth $100 million to $1 billion."

Kansas argued that accounting procedures should not be changed, Bradley said, that "a deal is a deal."

The Supreme Court however, agreed with Nebraska that RRC accounting must correct the way Nebraska's water account has been charged for seepage into the Republican basin from the Platte River basin. The high court ruled that it is wrong to define Platte River water as Republican River water (that originates in Platte irrigation canals and from farmers watering crops near the northern edge of the Republican basin).

Bradley said the change in accounting for "imported water" will result in an accounting improvement for Nebraska of 8,000 to 20,000 acre-feet of water per year.

Suzanne Gage, a spokeswoman for Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, told the Omaha World-Herald after the Supreme Court ruling that the court's agreement with Nebraska's stand to correct the imported water accounting error will ensure that Nebraskans receive their full water entitlement (within the compact) and are no longer improperly charged for using water to which Kansas is not entitled (Platte River water).

Bradley said it was significant, also, that the Supreme Court did not appoint a "federal river master" to rule over matters in the Republican River basin. Bradley said this ruling retains states' control of the river.

The Supreme Court did rule that Nebraska must pay Kansas $5.5 million -- $3.7 million for the value of the 70,000 acre-feet of water of Nebraska's overuse in 2005/2006, plus a $1.8 million penalty -- which is much less than the $80 million that Kansas was demanding. Money to pay the penalty is included in Nebraska Gov. Ricketts' proposed budget bill.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has indicated that $4.5 million will recoup legal costs of the attorney general's office and the remaining $1 million will go to the state Legislature.

Bradley said that pending a March 6 resolution, it's possible that the "compact call" for 2015 can be lifted. In a nutshell, Bradley said, that means Kansas gets its water under the compact by June and Nebraska can lift its compact call through the irrigation season. There's water in Harlan County dam now, ready to go to Kansas, Bradley said.

Bradley said this latest Supreme Court ruling "wraps up the past," and that the three states involved in the compact are heading "in a better direction." Long-term benefits of this ruling, he said, include:

Bradley said that a basin-wide meeting, in Cambridge on Tuesday, March 31, is charged with developing a plan with goals and objectives to ensure compact compliance and to sustain a balance between water users and water supplies so that the economic viability, social and environmental health, safety and welfare of the river basin and sub-basin can be achieved and maintained for both the near term and long-term.

The plan will include a timeline to meet goals and objectives within 30 years.

The nearly 25,000-square-mile Republican River watershed is used to irrigate 1.8 million acres. The interstate compact among the three states was ratified by Congress in 1943, allocating 49 percent of the river's flows to Nebraska, 40 percent to Kansas and 11 percent to Colorado.