News Release from
The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District

Date: April 7, 2008
Contact: Tim Anderson, Public Relations Manager
Phone: (308) 995-8601

April 7, 2008 Board Meeting Summary

(HOLDREGE, Neb.) -- The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District's board of directors at Monday's monthly meeting approved two budget amendments to reallocate funds for alternate purposes.

In the first action, the board approved a staff request to participate in a Statewide Probable Maximum Precipitation study. The study will use data from precipitation events throughout the Plains region, transposing appropriate data variables to areas in Nebraska to predict localized outcomes and impacts.

Such information, said Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain, would be useful in preparation of probable maximum flood analysis for any dam within Central's project.

Central will contribute, subject to staff and legal review, $10,000 toward completion of the $300,000 study. Other participating entities include the Lower Platte North, Central Platte, Lower Elkhorn, Lower Platte South, and Papio-Missouri Natural Resources Districts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources.

In the second budget amendment, the board authorized the transfer of $60,000 to pursue low-impact hydropower certification. Pending further analysis of the issue by staff, such a certification would be the first step in a process that would enable Central to sell "green certificates" from its generation of renewable hydropower to a marketer which in turn could market those certificates to retail and wholesale customers.

A green certificate is an official record proving that a specified amount of green electricity has been generated. They represent the environmental value of renewable energy production and can be traded separately from the energy produced.

In other action at Monday's meeting:

• The board approved payment of $100,666 as Central's 15-percent share for construction of a new concrete and steel bridge over the Supply Canal between Brady and Gothenburg. Central and Lincoln County are cooperating to obtain funds from a federal aid program for which the bridge qualifies. Construction of the bridge was to begin in late June, but the start date has been moved up to next week at the request of the contractor.

• Conservation Director Marcia Trompke presented the results from a recently completed survey of Central's irrigation facilities and on-farm delivery systems. Some highlights from the survey include:

-- Central's delivery system consists of 575.1 miles of canals, laterals and pipelines.
-- Buried pipelines comprised 123.7 miles of the delivery system and 11.3 miles of canals are lined with synthetic membrane or concrete.
-- Of the 1,885 turnouts in use in 2007, 1,699 (90%) were equipped with water meters. Deliveries from the rest are measured by District personnel.
-- Gated pipe is the most common on-farm delivery system, accounting for 66% of the service acres. The number of pivots delivering canal water rose from 206 in 2003 to 283 in 2007, covering 31% of the service acres. The number of acres irrigated with siphon tubes has fallen to less than 3% of the total.
-- Corn was grown on 80% of the acres receiving water in 2007, compared to 57% in 2006.

The survey, Trompke said, provides data for use in irrigation planning and conjunctive management of the area's water surface and ground water resources.

• Civil Engineer Cory Steinke reported that the snow-water equivalent in the snowpack above Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River in Wyoming is currently 111% of the 30-year average. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's April snowmelt runoff forecast in the North Platte Basin predicted runoff of 900,000 acre-feet or 101% of the 30-year average.

If that forecast proves correct, Steinke said, it would be the first time in nine years that runoff exceeded the 30-year average.

"That's not nearly enough to fill Wyoming's North Platte River reservoirs, which are currently about one-third full," Steinke said, "but it will be helpful for irrigation canals in the Panhandle. We need to see those canals receive a full supply of irrigation water. That could help next year's return flows to the North Platte River and inflows to Lake McConaughy."

Lake McConaughy is expected to peak in early May at about elevation 3223.0 feet above mean sea level (a volume of about 741,000 acre-feet or 43% of capacity). That would be about three feet higher than last year's peak. Inflows to the lake continue to lag below normal for this time of year, currently running about 66% of normal.

Steinke said there is a "50/50 chance" that the South Platte River from Colorado could provide meaningful flows to Central's diversion point below the city of North Platte. If that happens, he said, Central could use South Platte water in place of water from Lake McConaughy for awhile, allowing the lake to rise another foot or so before irrigation releases begin.

Snowpack in the South Platte River Basin is currently 107% of average.

• A project to improve water circulation and dissolved oxygen conditions in Lake Ogallala has been redesigned and resubmitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project entails the excavation of a channel in the lake bed connecting the north arm of the lake to the east arm.

The project had been held up by concerns about potential impacts on adjacent wetlands. The redesigned plan, said Gothenburg Division Manager Kevin Boyd, provides mitigation of up to 15 acres of constructed wetlands to offset 6 acres that might be affected.

"We hope this alleviates any concerns about wetlands and allows the project to proceed," Boyd said.

• The board approved a staff request to begin public advertising for a water rights transfer covering 237 acres.

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