Physical History of the Platte River in Nebraska

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t for irrigation use and reduce the dependency on natural flow during the irrigation season. These projects are also known as Projects Nos. 1417 and 1835 in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) system. The construction of Projects 1417 and 1835 was completed in 1941. With a storage capacity of approximately 1,743,000 acre -feet, Lake McConaughy offered dependable storage water supplies to offstream irrigators served by the Central District's Supply Canal, the E -65 and E -67 laterals, and the Phelps County Canal. The Project also provided storage water supplies to non - Project North Platte and Platte River canal companies to supplement their natural flow appropriations and avoid the prospects of future water shortages due to over - appropriation. y Summary of Canal Development The Platte River system is one of the most highly developed river basins in the world. Within the North Platte and South Platte River basins in Colorado and Wyoming, there currently are thousands of diversions. In Colorado, there are over 4,000 decreed diversion rights held in the South Platte River basin alone. A study in 1970 also reported that 542 South Platte River basin ditches diverted a total of 3,982,658 acre -feet of water, more than four times the total volume of South Platte water that flowed into Nebraska in 1970. As previously noted, a summary of canal construction and enlargement information on the North Platte and South Platte Rivers is set forth in Table 2.1. 2.1.2 Dam and Reservoir Construction Since snowmelt runoff generally peaks in late spring or early summer and subsequently recedes through the summer season, flow in rivers quickly became insufficient to provide a dependable water supply to irrigate crops through the entire growing season. As a result, in addition to the extensive development of canals and irrigation projects, there are also literally hundreds of upstream storage reservoirs in the North Platte and South Platte River basins. A study by Toups in 1975 found that there are 370 storage reservoirs in the South Platte River basin, each with capacities in excess of 500 acre -feet ( Toups, 1975). Toups also reported 1,270 decreed storage rights in the basin and that the 150 largest reservoirs in the Colorado section of the basin have a combined storage capacity of 2,129,742 acre -feet. In Wyoming, by far the most important storage facilities in the North Platte River basin are the USBR projects. USBR's North Platte Project consists of Pathfinder Dam and Reservoir, Guernsey Dam and Reservoir, Whalen Diversion Dam, Lake Alice, Lake Minatare, two other regulating reservoirs, and over 2,000 miles of canals and laterals. The largest storage facilities of the North Platte Project are Pathfinder Reservoir and Guernsey Reservoir, with current storage capacities of approximately 1,000,000 acre -feet and 45,000 acre -feet, respectively. The principal facilities of the USBR's Kendrick Project are Seminoe Dam and Reservoir, Alcova Dam and Reservoir, and the Casper Canal and related laterals. The storage capacities of Seminoe Reservoir are approximately 1,017,000 acre -feet. Alcova Reservoir 1 1 t 7 1