October 2, 2018
The Grand Island Independent :
There have been only two years in the last 30 when Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District delivered less irrigation water than during the recently completed 2018 growing season.In his report Monday to the CNPPID directors, Irrigation Division Manager Dave Ford said average 2018 irrigation water use was 4.68 inches per acre for 100,456 acres in the main irrigation service area in Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties.For the additional 5,374 acres served along the Central Supply Canal, the average was 4.29 inches per acre.Ford told the Hub that the average use the past 20 years — those that weren’t water allocation years — was around 9.8 inches.He said at the meeting that timely rainfall was a big reason for “very low use, very low demand” for surface water by CNPPID irrigators this year.
