News Release from
The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District

Date: May 7, 2007
Contact: Tim Anderson, Public Relations Manager
Phone: (308) 995-8601

May 2007 Board Meeting Summary

(HOLDREGE, Neb.) -- The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District's board of directors moved through the agenda at Monday's monthly meeting, taking action on a number of items and hearing reports from staff on several more.

• General Manager Don Kraus reported that the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program's (Program) governance committee has selected Jerry Kenny of Denver, Colo., as the program's new executive director. Kenny, a water resources engineer with HDR Engineering, has more than 30 years of experience in the water resources field primarily in Colorado, but also in several other western states. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and holds graduate degrees in engineering from Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.

Kenny replaces Dale Strickland, who has been the executive director of the Platte River Endangered Species Partnership, the administrative body overseeing the Cooperative Agreement among Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and the U.S. Dept. of the Interior, since the agreement was signed in 1997. The Cooperative Agreement produced the Program which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2007.

The Program seeks to protect and enhance habitat along the Platte River for threatened and endangered species.

• The board unanimously rejected a proposal from Lake McConaughy Lessees, Inc., the cabin-owners association at the lake, that asked Central to sell leased lots to individual lessees.

Director Robert Garrett of Minden, who made the motion to reject the proposal, said, "It is simply not a practical proposal and not something that the board should be inclined to accept."

• Conservation Director Marcia Trompke reported that the recent heavy rainfall may have affected ammonia fertilizer application in area fields. Ammonia changes to the nitrate form quickly after application, Trompke said, at which point it easily moves with water. The heavy rainfall may have washed the fertilizer off of fields or through the soil profile where it will not be available to crops.

She encouraged producers who applied ammonia or liquid nitrogen fertilizer to fields prior to the rains to take soil samples to measure the availability of nitrogen.

• Irrigation Division Manager Dave Ford showed video highlights of a "pigging" project on a 1.1-mile-long siphon that carries water underground through a section of the E65 Canal south of Johnson Lake. The project, completed May 1, removed a buildup of sediment and organic material from the inside of the siphon that reduces the siphon's ability to carry water. The organic material comes from residue left by egg masses laid by flies on the inner surfaces of the siphon.

The "pig," a 7,500-pound apparatus shaped like a dumbbell, is forced through the siphon with water flowing in the canal, scraping buildup from the sides as it moves. Ford said the pig is run through the siphon periodically to restore the siphon's water-carrying capacity.

• Ford also displayed a series of maps depicting data from Central's system of observation wells in the irrigated area. The maps show a continuing trend of declining groundwater levels throughout much of Central's service area since the onset of the drought in 2000, although 35% of the approximately 190 wells show a slight rise (1 foot or less) in the water table since last spring.

• Customer Service Supervisor Van Fastenau informed the board that more than 28,000 acres have been enrolled in a program that allows temporary transfers of irrigation delivery service. This will be the third consecutive irrigation season during which Central has allowed the transfers in an effort to provide more flexibility to irrigation customers seeking to meet crop water needs under drought and low storage water conditions.

• The board voted to change the date of the next committee-of-the-board meeting from May 25 to May 24. The meeting will be held in North Platte at the Sandhills Convention Center at 1:30 p.m. The change was made to facilitate a meeting between Central's board and the Nebraska Public Power District's board to discuss ongoing water resources issues.

• The board approved a change in the lease with FGJ Enterprises, Inc., a concessionaire at Johnson Lake doing business as Medo's Resort. The revision would extend part of the lease to 15 years to accommodate new costs associated with the Sanitary Improvement District.

A second lease for rental of camping pads would be limited to ten years, at which time the current approach for private uses would be changed.

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