Platte River Threat: Irrigation and Water Supply Development

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WYOMING. COLORADO. NEBRASKA a 0 ? • r ? _, ?..- -?5 THREAT: IRRIGATION AND WATER SUPPLY DEVELOPMENT SUMMARY Across the drought-stricken plains of Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska, the quest for more irrigation water is threatening to undermine an agreement to secure adequate flows in the Platte River and to protect its adjacent wetlands. Unless the Interior Depart- ment and state governments stick to their commitments and resist pressure for reckless new water development, migratory birds of the Central Flyway may lose their most important stopover, and the Platte River basin could become the scene of water conflicts that rival those along the Klamath or the Rio Grande. TNE RIVER Originating high in the Rocky Mountains of ABOVE: CONFRONTIN6 Wyoming and Colorado, the North and South DROU6NT AND FAILING Platte rivers meet in western Nebraska to GROVNDWATER RE3ERVE5, form the mainstem of the Platte, which then IfiRi6ATOR5 ARE SEEKINO TO flows east roughly 300 miles to empty into WITHDRAW MORE WATER the Missouri River near Omaha. The Big Bend FROM THE PLATTE eIVER. Reach of the river in Nebraska is the heart of the Central Flyway for migratory birds. Sever- al hundred species of birds use the river and adjacent Rainwater Basin wetlands, including BELOW: MILLIONS OF BIRDS. 8 to 10 million ducks and geese, a half million INCLUDIN6 SANDHILL sandhill cranes, and the largest remaining GRANES, MIGRATE TMROUGN flock of endangered whooping cranes. Two 7HE BIG BENU REACH oF imperiled birds, the piping plover and interior rHE PLATTiE eIVER. least tern, nest along the Platte's sandy chan- ?.;_. • . *?`.• " f ?;. - - • - ?'+' • •- t 1 .f , ` ?•zi +;7. r'•.?-i nels. Flows in the central Platte are also important for the endangered pallid sturgeon, which are believed to spawn in the lower river. The river flows through farm country and sacrifices much of its water to irrigate corn and soybeans. Three large reservoirs and many other smaller impoundments have reduced river flows to less than half of historic levels, and robbed it of sandy sediment that once built sandbar habitat. The river was once described by pioneers as being "a mile wide and an inch deep," but today the r channel is seldom one- '?' ?? `' • . ? fifth of a mile across. Spring pulse flows have -• .?'.'+ been eliminated, and veg- ? etation is taking over mai parts of the active channel that once provided ideal migratory habitat for cranes and nesting habitat for terns and plovers. p ? E U < ? Q THE RtSK The severe drought that has gripped the west- ern United States during the last two years has been particularly harsh in the Platte River basin. Municipal water utilities and irrigation interests have responded with a number of short-sighted proposals that would further degrade the Platte River. Compacts signed by the three states give 5 Wyoming and Colorado the authority to con- Q struct new water development projects. a Momentum is building towards new surface z 0 and groundwater withdrawals that would fur- z ther deplete river flows. Irrigation agencies have dusted off old plans for new dams and reservoirs. In addition, the state of Nebraska continues to allow unchecked drilling of irrigation wells in most of the Platte River basin, which has further depleted flows in the river. Despite this, some agricultural interests believe that an additional 1 million acres of farmland could be made more productive by beginning groundwater irrigation. One pro-irrigation group has gone so far as to openly call for the three basin states to scrap ecological flow tar- 2 6 .. A M E R 1 C A ' S M O S T E N D A N G E R E D R I V E R S O F 2003 ? ? m