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McCook Gazette
Letter to the Editor

NRDs need 701?

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Dear Editor,

The governor of Nebraska was in McCook just a week ago, extolling the Nebraska economy. His statement was that our economy far exceeded that of the neighboring states -- (as do our taxes). If the economy is so great … why in the world would they need to tax the residents of only the Republican Valley to take care of the state's responsibility over the Republican water?

The state should easily be able to fund the millions of dollars needed to finance the NRDs plans to experiment with piping water from one area to another, clean the river, etc. These actions of course will allow the deep well pumpers water allocation so big they will continue to deplete the aquifer.

I know of at least 10 irrigation wells that were lowered this summer and there were more. This was necessary because the water table has dropped.

The only way these irrigators could continue to pump their allocated inches of water was to lower the pumps deeper in the aquifer. Mr. Smith indicated in the NRD paper that the water table had stabilized - why then did those irrigators spend thousands of dollars to lower their wells?

The NRDs are trying to blame only nine users for the demise of 701. Actually, there were donations from Hastings to Haigler, from Hayes Center to Imperial, down to the Kansas line that participated in the lawsuit. Not only that, but I know of no elected officials in Red Willow County, Hitchcock County, McCook, Indianola, or Stratton that were in favor of 701.

In fact, many of those signed on as a "friend of the Court" supporting the suit. There would have been more, but they feared reprisals.

Next for the curtailment of water, the NRDs do not discuss the stabilization of the water table ... only a long range plan 15 to 20 years down the road, costing millions that may or may not work. Many of us feel that a reduction in water consumption divided equally among irrigators in the basin is not unreasonable.

Taxing all the people in the Republican Basin to try to solve the mistakes of Nebraska and NRD is unreasonable! They have been aware they were over developing this area for a LONG time, probably in the 1970s.

They took no action at that time and have waited until the last year or so to try to find a solution. An agreement made in 2002 and signed in 2003 is now up and Kansas intends to file suit.

Jamming through questionable Legislation, which excludes Lincoln, Omaha and most of Nebraska from paying their fair share, is easy to accomplish. A unicameral Legislature heavily loaded with Representatives from the East will be glad to support our two Senators when they offer plans that tax us and let them off the hook.

As for the economic impact we are all aware there will be some adverse effects. However, somewhere down the line Nebraska will be forced to face the fact that the depletion must be corrected, either by government intervention or Mother Nature. When will the impact be more severe -- now or when the conditions may worsen?

Tom Kiplinger,

McCook

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  • It is obvious that Tom has no clue what is going on with water. Irrigators have reduced their water usage signifacantly in the past 5 years. Many producers were pumping upwards of 30 inches in the late 90's and today are getting by on 12 inches or less. They accomplished this by investing in water saving technologies and improved farming practices. Thats why it is important that irrigators get a fair allocation that promotes conservation and promotes investments that will save water for the future. Projects that are being proposed by the NRD's to be funded by 701 are designed to make sure that irrigators have access to a constant supply of water, so they can save water and use it when they need it while meeting compact compliance. It is not the inttention of irrigators or the NRD to deplete the aquifer dry.

    Like it or not, our economy is DEPENDANT on irrigation in southwest Nebraska. Some local ag vendors already feel the pain from lossed sales caused by the CREP program that idled over 30,000 acres of land. We can't afford to lose more acres. We are getting by with less water and we will be able to get by for even less in the future. We got to get there first and that starts be keeping our water policy being decided at a local level and keeping the people that are effected actively involved in the solution.

    Like it or not, we have to solve this one ourselves. The compact sucks but it is not going away. The state is not interested in bailing us out and letting us make our own choices on how to manage our water. It is in our best interest to take care of our own problems and let the other river basins take care of their problems. This is a complex issue and I think everyone needs to get more informed. I have read through previous NRD meeting minutes and I have yet to find Tom's name in attendance. His lawsuit has valid points, however, the lawsuit is wasting our vauluable tax money and may cause us to lose the war. Imagine senators from Omaha, members of enviromental groups, and people that don't even know where McCook on a map telling us how to use our water.

    -- Posted by omnibus on Sat, Aug 23, 2008, at 2:19 PM

  • Keep it up Tom!!! The only thing I have seen the NRD's accomplish is dance around the real problem and that is; there are to many wells pumping to much water.

    -- Posted by plainsman on Mon, Aug 25, 2008, at 8:56 AM
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