Legal development puts Nebraska's water resolve to test

Stress exposes weaknesses in any system, and we are all experiencing that truth as the economy struggles to recover from the "Great Recession" resulting from the sub-prime lending fiasco.

In the Plains, water is money, and a shortage thereof exposes weaknesses in the water system, especially Nebraska's relationship with Kansas over the Republican River.

The state, Natural Resources Districts, Legislature, irrigators and taxpayers have been struggling to come to grips with the 1943 Republican River Compact, reaching a settlement in 2003 but now facing a new challenge from Kansas.

Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court said the Sunflower State had valid enough arguments for it to appoint a special master to hear its contention that Nebraska kept too much water in 2005 and 2006 -- the last years of a drought.

If Kansas had its way, Nebraska would be forced to stop irrigating half a million of the 1.2 million irrigated acres in the Republican River basin, and pay as much as $72 million.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning contends we've done enough to make sure Kansas gets its share of water, and have been doing so since 2006.

We may be about to find out. Rainfall is nearly 2 inches below normal in McCook, and long-time Nebraskans know rainfall is never a sure thing.