WATER MANAGEMENT
The PRRIP provides Endangered Spe- cies Act compliance for water-related activities in the north, south and central Platte basins. Habitat work occurs in the Big Bend Reach in central Nebraska.
rapidly growing population. This regulato- ry certainty was estimated to represent a net savings of over $400 million in avoided regulatory compliance and mitigation costs (over and above program operating costs) over the extended First Increment of the program.
The program also directly supports basin water users. Early in the First Increment, the program focused on developing water supply through off-channel storage for the purpose of diverting and storing excess flows to be released at times when they provide species benefits. As the program pursued retiming projects, it became ap- parent that institutional and cost barriers made large-scale storage infeasible. Water users responded by developing innovative leasing projects that benefit the program and their constituents. As of late 2020, the program leases a total of 25,000 acre-feet of storage water from irrigators and sur- face water irrigation districts in Nebraska and Wyoming. These leasing arrange- ments provide the program with cost- efficient water needed to meet its regula- tory milestones while providing irrigators and irrigation districts with a much- needed revenue stream to support oper- ations and maintenance needs in a tough financial climate.
Retiming of excess flows through canal and reservoir recharge projects provides
18 Irrigation TODAY | Winter 2021
another avenue for collaboration with water users. Irrigation districts in the region intentionally recharge approxi- mately 30,000 acre-feet of water annually for the program. We are also preparing to implement the program’s first conjunctive management project that will allow us to pump recharged groundwater to the river to increase its efficiency in meeting pro- gram flow objectives and assist landown- ers in managing their groundwater levels.
Environmental & civic impact
When communicating with environmental audiences, the focus is on the program’s contributions to endangered species re- covery. Local populations of least tern and piping plover have more than doubled due to creation of new off-channel nest- ing habitat. Similarly, the proportion of the wild migrating whooping crane popula- tion stopping on the Platte is increasing as the program improves the suitability of on-channel roosting habitat.
The program also funds broader research efforts like the whooping crane satellite telemetry project that provide learning benefits extending well beyond geo- graphical limits of the Platte basin. For example, many whooping crane experts believed the vast majority of crane deaths occurred during migration. Telemetry turned this conventional wisdom on its head, demonstrating cranes were no more likely to die during migration than at any other time of the year.
When communicating with civic orga- nizations, the focus is on the program’s commitment to being a good neighbor. This starts with a willing-buyer, willing- seller philosophy prohibiting the use of eminent domain to acquire land for species habitat or water projects. The program’s 13,000 acres of habitat were assembled over hundreds of meetings at coffee shops and kitchen tables. The program has also committed to paying property taxes to avoid shifting the tax
AS OF LATE 2020, THE PROGRAM LEASES A TOTAL OF 25,000 ACRE-FEET OF STOR- AGE WATER FROM IRRIGATORS AND SUR- FACE WATER IRRIGATION DISTRICTS IN NEBRASKA AND WYOMING.
irrigationtoday.org
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