October 2, 2018
A pilot project to save and store surface water not needed for irrigation was successful in its first year.
That was the message to Central Platte Natural Resources District directors Thursday by CPNRD General Manager Lyndon Vogt and Hydrologist Brandi Flyr.
Vogt said water designated for crop acres in Dawson County that now are groundwater irrigated still was being taken from the Platte River into irrigation canals and then returned to the river.
In the pilot project with Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation and Nebraska Public Power districts, that water now is added to the environmental account in Lake McConaughy from which stored water is released, when needed, to meet the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wildlife habitat target flows in the Central Platte region.
