Big Mac hit hard

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BY ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star

Lake McConaughy, the state’s largest reservoir, has fallen on tough times thanks to a drought that just won’t go away.

How hard?

On Wednesday, the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, which owns and manages the lake for irrigation and hydrogeneration, said that if the hot and dry weather continues the lake will drop to 18 percent of its storage capacity by Sept. 15.

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Low water levels at Lake McConaughy have been a mainstay for the past several years. In this August 2002 file photo, there were vast stretches of beach and uncovered areas not seen in nearly 50 years. (LJS File)

Low water levels at Lake McConaughy have been a mainstay for the past several years. In this August 2002 file photo, there were vast stretches of beach and uncovered areas not seen in nearly 50 years. (LJS File)

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Graphic: Lake McConaughy water storage

Graph data in acre-feet of water. (An acre-foot is enough water to fill an acre to a depth of 1 foot)...

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That would be the lowest amount of water in the lake since 1941 when Kingsley Dam was closed and Lake McConaughy began to fill, a process that took nine years, said Central spokesman Tim Anderson.

The previous record low was 21 percent of storage capacity in 2004.

It is difficult to visualize what 18 percent of capacity means, but consider this: When Lake McConaughy is at full capacity — almost 2 million acre feet — it stretches for 22.5 miles. At 18 percent of capacity or 321,900 acre-feet, the lake will be only 7.5 miles long or about one-third of its maximum size.

Anderson put the problem in a nutshell:  Water is flowing out of the lake faster than it is coming in. On Wednesday, inflows, mainly from the North Platte River, were 415 cubic feet per second while outflows were 2,737 cubic feet per second.

Central is releasing water to supply irrigators, who rely on Lake McConaughy water to grow corn and other crops. But this year, the district’s irrigation customers are only getting 8.7 inches of water, compared to 18 inches they normally are entitled to, Anderson said. Last year, they got only 6.4 inches.

To conserve water, the Holdrege-based district will reduce releases from Lake McConaughy on Aug. 7 and begin using water stored in three other lakes to supply irrigators during the tail end of the irrigation season. Those lakes are: Midway south of Cozad, Jeffrey south of Brady and Johnson near Lexington.

Anderson said recreational interests and vendors will suffer the most, especially at Johnson Lake, which has about 900 cabins. “It will be useless for fishing and boating” through the Labor Day weekend, he said.

Lake McConaughy will shrink, too, but there will be plenty of beach. The only problem is boaters will have to go a lot farther to launch their watercrafts into the water and will need help from farm tractors to get across the sand.

Much of Nebraska has been battling a drought for the past seven years and conditions are not improving — in fact, they may be getting worse, according to state climatologist Al Dutcher.

“It’s getting pretty severe, particularly out in that region,” he said, referring to western Nebraska.

The soil is very dry, Dutcher said, almost as dry as it was in 2002, one of the worst years of the current drought. In eastern Nebraska, he said, much of the corn failed to generate any yields or minimal yields that year and a lot of the corn crop was chopped up for silage.

“Unfortunately, the way the conditions are and with the lack of precipitation, we may be rapidly approaching the same situation,” Dutcher said.

Except for about an inch of rain  in a narrow corridor in south-central and central Nebraska a few weeks ago, there has been very little rain. Even an inch of rain wouldn’t do that much good now because corn uses up that moisture in about three days.

Dutcher said 80 percent of Nebraska is in a moisture deficit “big time” and is starting to approach severe drought conditions. June and July were mostly dry across the state.

“The entire state is in moderate drought conditions,” Dutcher said.

And there’s no relief in sight.

Temperatures are expected to  reach 100 degrees or more this weekend, he said. Some parts of north-central, western and southwest Nebraska could see 105 degrees and maybe 110.

In the Lincoln area, temperatures will near 100 degrees.

The long-range forecast calls for above normal temperatures in August with no sign for above normal precipitation, Dutcher said.

Anderson said it is difficult to be optimistic that the drought will end anytime soon. In 1999, when the current drought started, he said, people thought it would not last long, possibly four or five years.

“It’s not looking like a short-term drought now,” he said.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.