McConaughy near 8-year high

HOLDREGE, Neb. — Nebraska’s largest lake is approaching a volume of 1 million acre feet for the first time in nearly eight years.

Lake McConaughy may hold more than 1.3 million acre feet by late spring, if projections are correct in the latest draft of Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District’s 2010 operating plan.

“If the system stays wet, that 1.3 could happen,” CNPPID civil engineer Cory Steinke said at this week’s Central board meeting in Holdrege. That mark still would be only 75 percent of a full reservoir, which is 1.7 million acre feet.

“A lot of this hinges on the South Platte (river flows) hanging around,” he said.

Steinke said the lake last held 1 million acre feet of water in 2002. He reported that Monday’s volume was 945,000 acre feet of water, which is 290,000 acre feet more than on the same date in 2008 and is about 54 percent of full. The lake also is 15 feet higher than last year.

Inflows of 1,300 cubic feet per second are 85 percent of average, but better than the 700 cubic feet per at this time last year.

Wet weather in the North Platte and South Platte basins has produced the positive outlook that may have CNPPID directors rethinking irrigation allocations for 2010. The current plan is to deliver 15 inches of water per acre, which compares with allocations of 6.7 or 8.4 inches from the drought-depleted lake each of the past five years.

Central serves 112,000 crop acres in Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties.

CNPPID General Manager Don Kraus said the idea of going to a full delivery of 18 inches per acre in 2010 likely will be on the agenda for the board’s Dec. 7 meeting.

CNPPID Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain said the issue isn’t so much the volume of irrigation water involved, but that the 18-inch level allows for one more late-summer water delivery to crops that hasn’t been possible in recent allocations.

Another plus in the proposed operating plan is to have normal operations at Elwood Reservoir for the first time in six years. That will mean putting gravity flows into the lake in February and operating pumps in March to fill it.

Steinke believes his water projections for the Platte Basin could be low. But he cautioned the Central directors that forecasts call for El Nino conditions, which usually means a warmer, drier winter.