OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — The Perkins County Canal was originally proposed as a $500 million dollar project to secure water flowing out of Colorado, which would include a canal and a series of reservoirs to store the water. Several Nebraska senators would like to see increased capacity of the canal, but that comes with additional cost and not everyone in the Unicameral thinks the expanded canal is worth it.
“It is essential that when we are looking across the state we are prioritizing water and water infrastructure. Not only for drinking but for our economy. When I look at the Perkins County Canal now I look at that as a project that is going to support our ability to continue to irrigate,” said Sen. Anna Wishart.
Under the compact with Colorado, Nebraska is entitled to 500 cubic feet per second (CFS) of water but the budget calls for a canal built to handle twice that amount of water. Some senators are questioning if that extra capacity is worth the extra cost.
“If we are able to successfully achieve what we can achieve with the Canal with just a 500 CFS canal versus a 1000 CFS canal. I don’t see the function or purpose of spending an additional $125 million on doing that,” said Sen. John Frederickson.
Rural senators, mostly from western Nebraska where the canal would be built, argued that the extra capacity could help capture excess snow melt and high precipitation events that could add to Nebraska water reserves.
“Let me tell you, it will require the same amount of land, the same amount of easement and eminent domain, whether it's 500 or 1000,” said Sen. Steve Erdman.
Some senators, like John Cavanaugh, argued that Nebraska would be entitled to that water even without the canal.
“If that water is not diverted by a canal it would go into the Platte River into the state of Nebraska. That means we would be spending this $125 million to get additional canal capacity that we already have a right to,” he said.
Cavanaugh introduced an amendment to reduce appropriations for the Canal project by $125 million. Ultimately, his amendment failed on a vote of 11-32.
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