As recently as six months ago, Kansas was demanding $72 million in damages from Nebraska for using more than its share of Republican River water.

A Colorado arbitrator's findings leave Kansas just a bit short - $71,990,000 short, to be exact.

As $10,000 in suggested damages and other details of Karl Dreher's 72-page report emerged Wednesday, Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning brushed aside suggestions of "total victory."

"My hope is that we can be good neighbors," Bruning said of a dispute over the terms of the Republican River Compact. "Our intent is to comply with the terms of the compact and to continue to do what needs to be done to conserve water."

The tone didn't sound quite as diplomatic on the Kansas side of the border.

"This is likely not the end of this matter," said David Barfield, Kansas' top water official.

"We disagree with the decision that we have not provided enough justification for our estimates of economic damage," he said.

The two states turned to Dreher to try to resolve their latest differences over Republican River flows through nonbinding arbitration rather than go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The flash point was a multiyear drought that extended into 2006 and reduced the Harlan County Reservoir in Nebraska to its lowest level since it was filled in 1957.

But if some sort of middle-of-the-road result from the arbitrator was a key to staying out of court, that does not appear to be what happened.

Apart from damages, Dreher did not side with Kansas as it pressed Nebraska to shut down groundwater wells within 2 1/2 miles of the river to limit the wells' depleting effects on surface flows.

Nor was he agreeable to capping all wells drilled along the river in Nebraska after 2000.

And, he did not go along with Kansas on the point of appointing a river master to manage future water use.

Barfield wasn't willing to say in a brief Wednesday interview if all those setbacks made court his state's obvious next stop - or, for that matter, what other options there might be.

"I'm not going to respond to what's next," he said. "The states have 30 days to view the report and to provide to the other state what they agree with and what they disagree with."

In a prepared statement released later Wednesday, Kansas Attorney General Steve Six said Dreher was on the mark in concluding Nebraska needs to upgrade conservation measures to deal with future droughts.

"Nebraska has deprived Kansas of its rightful share of the Republican River, and has violated a U.S. Supreme Court decree by 78,960 acre feet for the years 2005 and 2006," Six said.

Barfield said the most important issue is future compliance.

Mike Jess and Dave Aiken, among veteran water watchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, were both surprised Nebraska fared as well as it did.

"It's a pleasant surprise," said Jess, also a former director of the Nebraska Department of Water Resources, "because I guess I expected something that would probably be more harsh."

Aiken, a water law specialist, was more taken aback.

"We dodged a bullet," he said, "and the arbitrator said we will not dodge a bullet next time."

Neither Jess nor Aiken was willing to predict the likelihood of a court confrontation.

"I don't know what the politics is in Topeka," Jess said, "and that could well be what decides it for the Kansas folks - what sort of heat they feel from the people in their state."

Aiken said the absence of a financial hammer in nonbinding arbitration doesn't relieve Nebraska of the responsibility to arrive at some painful answers in the Republican River Valley.

"To me, it seems inevitable that we will either have to cut back (irrigated) acres or change crops."

That may make corn, a thirsty and popular choice in a water-challenged area, a less popular choice in the years ahead.

One way Aiken measures pain is the valuation impact of converting 500,000 acres from irrigated to unirrigated production. That could easily add up to $600 million, he said.

As water officials ponder Wednesday's report, they also are looking ahead to Aug. 11 to 12, when they will be in Lincoln, along with their Colorado counterparts, for the next meeting of the Republican River Compact.

Bruning is doubtful that will be a time for fruitful negotiations among the river partners.

"That might be a little quick," he said, noting that the event will come less than two weeks after the 30-day review period on Dreher's report.

Dan Smith, general manager of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District at Curtis, said his board of directors already has taken some big steps toward groundwater conservation.

Prominent among them is a five-year allocation formula that limits annual pumping to 12 inches per acre.

However, Smith conceded that's not enough to solve the water shortage that goes with future droughts. Nor does he think the Colorado water expert has delivered the last word.

"This, by no means, makes the problems go away," he said.

Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or ahovey@journalstar.com.