Drought shrinks McConaughy
OGALLALA - Lake McConaughy is Nebraska's ocean. When full, the lake stretches west for 22 miles from Kingsley Dam to where it meets the North Platte River, the source of most of its water.
The lake is 142 feet deep at its deepest point and has slightly more than 100 miles of white, sandy beaches. Whitecaps and rock-pounding waves are common, as are sailboats and flocks of sea gulls.
"You can take all of the other lakes in the state and dump them in Lake McConaughy twice and still have room left over," said Tim Anderson, spokesman for the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, which owns the lake.
That was before the drought, now in its sixth year.
Half of the lake is gone, dried up from irrigation releases, evaporation and too little rain. Most of the northern half is covered in brush and saplings. Boat docks lie marooned, some more than half a mile from the water.
In late summer, farm tractors and four-wheel drive vehicles pull boats in and out of the lake, and fishermen hike long distances to cast their lines.
It's not all bad. The low water levels are great for campers who can park their RVs on white sand beaches.
Still, miles and miles of beaches are not necessarily a welcome sight at Lake McConaughy, which is the source of water for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation and recreation.
Known to many as Big Mac, the lake is the state's largest reservoir. Most of its water comes from the North Platte River, fed by melting snows in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.
Irrigators in west-central Nebraska rely on its water to nourish thirsty crops in dry, hot summers.
People from Nebraska and Colorado fish and boat in it.
And the lake is an environmental oasis for nesting birds and migrating eagles, which spend the winter snatching fish in the open waters below Kingsley Dam.
This is a critical year for Lake McConaughy.
Central says the reservoir hasn't been this low in the spring for more than 60 years. The lake is at 36 percent of its storage capacity of almost 2 million acre feet of water. An acre-foot of water equals 325,851 gallons, enough to meet the water needs of an average household for a year.
Because McConaughy is so low, Central plans to ration water for the first time in its history. Instead of getting their full allocation of 18 inches of water, farmers and ranchers will get 6.7 inches, said Jeremie Kerkman, a civil engineer supervisor for the Holdrege-based irrigation district.
The Nebraska Public Power District, which stores about 125,000 acre feet annually in the lake for its irrigators in central-western Nebraska, hasn't decided how much water it will release this summer.
"It all depends on the weather and river flows," said NPPD spokeswoman Beth Boesch. She noted that NPPD used only about 40 percent of its water last year because most customers pump directly from the Platte River.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages an "environmental account" of about 106,000 acre feet to provide water for four endangered or threatened species downstream in central and eastern Nebraska. Last year, for the second year in a row, the federal agency declined to use its share and doesn't anticipate releasing any water this summer.
Sharon Whitmore, who manages the environmental account, said the drought is partly to blame. But she also said the agency is studying how to get the most benefit from its future releases. Water has been released in the past to augment summertime flows in the Platte, but the agency has found that most of it never reached Grand Island due to seepage and groundwater pumping for irrigation.
"We were releasing so much water, we were seeing little benefit in the habitat areas," Whitmore said. "We found that you can hardly get the water there in the summer time."
Lake McConaughy is critical for irrigators, who get water through an elaborate system of canals to irrigate corn, soybeans and other crops.
The reservoir was built during the 1940s for one purpose: provide water in times of drought. And it has done its job over the years.
But times have changed, and so has Lake McConaughy. It draws thousands of visitors - mostly from Colorado - and millions of tourist dollars. Reports of its distressed condition have kept people away in droves and upset some business owners and long-time residents.
"If people hear that a lake's dry, they are going to go somewhere else," said Mitch Gerstenkorn, who supervises McConaughy for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
Annual visits have dropped from 1 million to 650,000 people. That means business suffers and tempers flare. Some people blame Central and NPPD.
"They took a beautiful majestic lake and turned it into a mud hole and now they don't know how to fix the problem," said Ruth Clark, owner of Chere's Lounge in Lemoyne, on the north shore of the lake.
Clark claimed Central and NPPD officials oversold the water and should have "conserved a little" because of the drought. She also said more should be done to enhance recreational opportunities, thereby attracting more people.
"There's been no water for the past three years (on the west side of the lake). How do you think these people feel? How do they expect to make a living?"
Tim Anderson said people around McConaughy need to understand that every drop in the lake is spoken for. Under terms of legally binding contracts, he said, it belongs to Central and NPPD and their irrigators, and to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Central provides irrigation water for about 113,000 acres downstream from Lake McConaughy. Anderson noted that the district lost about $2.5 million in each of the last two years because it did not have enough water to generate hydroelectricity.
Speaking at a spring conference on the future of Nebraska's water supply, Rep. Tom Osborne, R-3rd District, called McConaughy "a vital economic engine for the area."
He said he was concerned about the lake's ability to bounce back after six years of drought.
"How fast will this lake refill? Will it ever refill? This a major concern," Osborne said.
Steve Smith, who irrigates farm land near Imperial, has come up with a unique and controversial proposal to ease the crisis: Sink 550 wells into the Ogallala aquifer to fill Lake McConaughy and provide water to the Platte and Republican river basins. But government officials and environmentalists fear the $265 million project would hurt the fragile Ogallala, one of the world's largest freshwater aquifers.
Central's Kerkman said it will take two or three years of good snow in Wyoming to fill up the lake. When the snow melts in the mountains, water flows downstream and fills up a handful of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs in Wyoming before flowing down the North Platte River and into McConaughy. Along the way, irrigators in Nebraska's Panhandle region draw on the water to irrigate crops.
Kerkman said Wyoming's reservoirs will have to be filled up before any water trickles down to Big Mac.
"They have 2.8 million acre feet of (reservoir) space and about 1 million acre feet of water," he said.
Even in its drought-depleted condition, McConaughy dwarfs any other reservoir in Nebraska. Kerkman said.
"(It's not)a little puddle left on the prairie."
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.
IN THE MONTHS AHEAD
"Platte River Odyssey" is a collaboration between the Lincoln Journal Star and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. In the coming months, the series will deal with many themes related to the Platte River basin. They include:
* The economics of irrigation.
* History of irrigation in the Platte Valley.
* Litigation over water in the Platte basin.
* The Platte Metroplex: Lincoln and Omaha rely on the Platte.
* Recreation on the Platte.
NEW STUDY TO LOOK AT MANAGING BIG MAC
A study by University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers will examine the economic impact of managing Lake McConaughy in different ways.
"We're going to be looking at the economic trade-offs associated with how much water is left in the reservoir," said Ray Supalla, lead researcher and UNL professor of agricultural economics. "The basic question is: If you diverted less for irrigation ... what are the economic consequences?"
As it is now managed, the economic impact of Lake McConaughy is great. The state's largest reservoir provides irrigation water directly and indirectly for about half a million acres, and for recreation, cooling power plants and generating hydroelectricity.
"We feel very strongly that we need to respond to the needs and concerns of all users," Supalla said.
The continuing drought was the main impetus for the study, but such factors as the impact of groundwater pumping above the lake also played a role, he said. The controversial groundwater-pumping issue is now before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
No cost estimate of the study was available but negotiations are under way. University and federal funds may be used. The UNL Department of Agricultural Economics is the lead investigator for the study, with the help of an advisory committee.
Supalla and other researchers plan to conduct interviews this summer and issue a report by Nov. 1.
- Algis J. Laukaitis
The lake is 142 feet deep at its deepest point and has slightly more than 100 miles of white, sandy beaches. Whitecaps and rock-pounding waves are common, as are sailboats and flocks of sea gulls.
"You can take all of the other lakes in the state and dump them in Lake McConaughy twice and still have room left over," said Tim Anderson, spokesman for the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, which owns the lake.
That was before the drought, now in its sixth year.
Half of the lake is gone, dried up from irrigation releases, evaporation and too little rain. Most of the northern half is covered in brush and saplings. Boat docks lie marooned, some more than half a mile from the water.
In late summer, farm tractors and four-wheel drive vehicles pull boats in and out of the lake, and fishermen hike long distances to cast their lines.
It's not all bad. The low water levels are great for campers who can park their RVs on white sand beaches.
Still, miles and miles of beaches are not necessarily a welcome sight at Lake McConaughy, which is the source of water for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation and recreation.
Known to many as Big Mac, the lake is the state's largest reservoir. Most of its water comes from the North Platte River, fed by melting snows in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.
Irrigators in west-central Nebraska rely on its water to nourish thirsty crops in dry, hot summers.
People from Nebraska and Colorado fish and boat in it.
And the lake is an environmental oasis for nesting birds and migrating eagles, which spend the winter snatching fish in the open waters below Kingsley Dam.
This is a critical year for Lake McConaughy.
Central says the reservoir hasn't been this low in the spring for more than 60 years. The lake is at 36 percent of its storage capacity of almost 2 million acre feet of water. An acre-foot of water equals 325,851 gallons, enough to meet the water needs of an average household for a year.
Because McConaughy is so low, Central plans to ration water for the first time in its history. Instead of getting their full allocation of 18 inches of water, farmers and ranchers will get 6.7 inches, said Jeremie Kerkman, a civil engineer supervisor for the Holdrege-based irrigation district.
The Nebraska Public Power District, which stores about 125,000 acre feet annually in the lake for its irrigators in central-western Nebraska, hasn't decided how much water it will release this summer.
"It all depends on the weather and river flows," said NPPD spokeswoman Beth Boesch. She noted that NPPD used only about 40 percent of its water last year because most customers pump directly from the Platte River.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages an "environmental account" of about 106,000 acre feet to provide water for four endangered or threatened species downstream in central and eastern Nebraska. Last year, for the second year in a row, the federal agency declined to use its share and doesn't anticipate releasing any water this summer.
Sharon Whitmore, who manages the environmental account, said the drought is partly to blame. But she also said the agency is studying how to get the most benefit from its future releases. Water has been released in the past to augment summertime flows in the Platte, but the agency has found that most of it never reached Grand Island due to seepage and groundwater pumping for irrigation.
"We were releasing so much water, we were seeing little benefit in the habitat areas," Whitmore said. "We found that you can hardly get the water there in the summer time."
Lake McConaughy is critical for irrigators, who get water through an elaborate system of canals to irrigate corn, soybeans and other crops.
The reservoir was built during the 1940s for one purpose: provide water in times of drought. And it has done its job over the years.
But times have changed, and so has Lake McConaughy. It draws thousands of visitors - mostly from Colorado - and millions of tourist dollars. Reports of its distressed condition have kept people away in droves and upset some business owners and long-time residents.
"If people hear that a lake's dry, they are going to go somewhere else," said Mitch Gerstenkorn, who supervises McConaughy for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
Annual visits have dropped from 1 million to 650,000 people. That means business suffers and tempers flare. Some people blame Central and NPPD.
"They took a beautiful majestic lake and turned it into a mud hole and now they don't know how to fix the problem," said Ruth Clark, owner of Chere's Lounge in Lemoyne, on the north shore of the lake.
Clark claimed Central and NPPD officials oversold the water and should have "conserved a little" because of the drought. She also said more should be done to enhance recreational opportunities, thereby attracting more people.
"There's been no water for the past three years (on the west side of the lake). How do you think these people feel? How do they expect to make a living?"
Tim Anderson said people around McConaughy need to understand that every drop in the lake is spoken for. Under terms of legally binding contracts, he said, it belongs to Central and NPPD and their irrigators, and to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Central provides irrigation water for about 113,000 acres downstream from Lake McConaughy. Anderson noted that the district lost about $2.5 million in each of the last two years because it did not have enough water to generate hydroelectricity.
Speaking at a spring conference on the future of Nebraska's water supply, Rep. Tom Osborne, R-3rd District, called McConaughy "a vital economic engine for the area."
He said he was concerned about the lake's ability to bounce back after six years of drought.
"How fast will this lake refill? Will it ever refill? This a major concern," Osborne said.
Steve Smith, who irrigates farm land near Imperial, has come up with a unique and controversial proposal to ease the crisis: Sink 550 wells into the Ogallala aquifer to fill Lake McConaughy and provide water to the Platte and Republican river basins. But government officials and environmentalists fear the $265 million project would hurt the fragile Ogallala, one of the world's largest freshwater aquifers.
Central's Kerkman said it will take two or three years of good snow in Wyoming to fill up the lake. When the snow melts in the mountains, water flows downstream and fills up a handful of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs in Wyoming before flowing down the North Platte River and into McConaughy. Along the way, irrigators in Nebraska's Panhandle region draw on the water to irrigate crops.
Kerkman said Wyoming's reservoirs will have to be filled up before any water trickles down to Big Mac.
"They have 2.8 million acre feet of (reservoir) space and about 1 million acre feet of water," he said.
Even in its drought-depleted condition, McConaughy dwarfs any other reservoir in Nebraska. Kerkman said.
"(It's not)a little puddle left on the prairie."
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.
IN THE MONTHS AHEAD
"Platte River Odyssey" is a collaboration between the Lincoln Journal Star and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. In the coming months, the series will deal with many themes related to the Platte River basin. They include:
* The economics of irrigation.
* History of irrigation in the Platte Valley.
* Litigation over water in the Platte basin.
* The Platte Metroplex: Lincoln and Omaha rely on the Platte.
* Recreation on the Platte.
NEW STUDY TO LOOK AT MANAGING BIG MAC
A study by University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers will examine the economic impact of managing Lake McConaughy in different ways.
"We're going to be looking at the economic trade-offs associated with how much water is left in the reservoir," said Ray Supalla, lead researcher and UNL professor of agricultural economics. "The basic question is: If you diverted less for irrigation ... what are the economic consequences?"
As it is now managed, the economic impact of Lake McConaughy is great. The state's largest reservoir provides irrigation water directly and indirectly for about half a million acres, and for recreation, cooling power plants and generating hydroelectricity.
"We feel very strongly that we need to respond to the needs and concerns of all users," Supalla said.
The continuing drought was the main impetus for the study, but such factors as the impact of groundwater pumping above the lake also played a role, he said. The controversial groundwater-pumping issue is now before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
No cost estimate of the study was available but negotiations are under way. University and federal funds may be used. The UNL Department of Agricultural Economics is the lead investigator for the study, with the help of an advisory committee.
Supalla and other researchers plan to conduct interviews this summer and issue a report by Nov. 1.
- Algis J. Laukaitis
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