Republican River resolutions welcome development

Our thanks to the Upper Republican Natural Resources District staff for shedding some light on the new agreement signed by Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska that everyone hopes will put an end to the conflict over the river's water supply.

While officials like Gov. Pete Ricketts made vague statements about "greater flexibility and certainty" and a "long-term strategy for representing each state and ultimately improving water management for water users," an Upper Republican NRD release got more specific.

It definitely seems like a common-sense solution.

One of the resolutions indicates Kansas will receive the amount of water it needs and can actually use, with any excess delivered in later "Water Short Years" when it is actually needed.

Previously, the amount of water stored in Harlan County Reservoir is based on complicated formulas the produced estimates of how much water the Upper, Middle and Lower Republican NRDs needed to help Nebraska comply with the Republican River Compact settlement agreement.

The compact allocates 49 percent of Republican River water to Nebraska, 40 percent to Kansas and 11 percent to Colorado.

After accusations of noncompliance, Colorado and Nebraska have implemented augmentation projects, where groundwater is pumped into the river to make sure downstream states receive amounts to which they are entitled.

The resolutions commit the three states to coordinate with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and irrigation districts to establish water-use accounts for Kansas and Nebraska in Harlan County Lake, just north of the Kansas border.

Upper Republican NRD Manager Jasper Fanning lauded the resolutions as a "commitment among the three states to transparency, data-sharing and continued dialogue through the implementation of the resolutions."

Let's hope implementation of the resolutions goes more smoothly than Republican River Compact compliance has over the years.