A Nebraska irrigation district official says his area’s next corn crop is threatened by a state order to release some reservoir water.

The state is trying to comply with the Republican River Compact.

 

 

The 1943 compact says Nebraska gets 49 percent of the Republican River’s water, Kansas gets 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent. Kansas has repeatedly complained that Nebraska has used more than its share. A Kansas lawsuit alleging that Nebraska violated the compact is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Frenchman-Cambridge Irrigation District general manager Brad Edgerton is not happy about the release of more than 12,000 acre-feet of water. Edgerton told the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/16naQQX ) that the release further threatens south-central Nebraska’s next corn crop as the state struggles with drought.