Republican River talks hopeful sign

At least we're talking.

The light at the end of the tunnel is much too far away to see, but word today that Kansas officials have agreed to meet with a Nebraska congressman and attorney general might mean that the light actually exists.

On Thursday, U.S. Reps. Tom Osborne of Nebraska and Jerry Moran of Kansas will join attorneys general Jon Bruning of Nebraska and Phil Kline of Kansas in Concordia, Kan., to discuss the Republican River Compact. Earlier, Kansas was cool to the idea of new talks, first proposed by Osborne a few months ago.

Under a 1998 settlement, Nebraska agreed to make sure more water is available to Kansas under the 1943 agreement.

The original compact allocated Nebraska 49 percent of the annual water supply in the Republican River Basin, Kansas 40 percent and Colorado 11.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Nebraska, indeed, was using more than its share of water, Nebraska settled "the best way we could," Bruning told Nebraska Natural Resources Districts.

Colorado wasn't so lucky; last year it paid more than $34 million to Kansas over a similar dispute involving the Arkansas River.

The agreement may have been OK in 1943, but today's irrigation and drought mean Nebraska may have to pony up money to Kansas as well. Alternately, farmers are being forced to use less water or stop drilling wells.

Possibilities for solving the problem include buying water from the Bostwick Irrigation District's Harlan County Reservoir to send to Kansas, buying water rights from Kansas, or, as proposed by the WaterClaim organization, transferring water from the Platte to Republican basins.

Ideally, some sort of new agreement needs to be reached with Kansas that recognizes the reality of conservation practices, a national policy designed to reduce erosion and increase farming efficiency. The role of trees, scarce along the Republican River prior to World War II but plentiful today, should also be acknowledged.

For now, Thursday's talks in Concordia are a hopeful sign.