Nebraska’s Perkins County Canal 60% designed, on track for 2032 completion

OGALLALA, Neb. (KNOP) - State leaders briefed the public Monday on the next steps for the Perkins County Canal project, a century-old water diversion plan now at the center of a growing dispute with Colorado over South Platte River rights.

The concept for the canal dates back more than a century and is codified in a 1923 compact between Nebraska and Colorado over the South Platte River. The agreement gives Nebraska the right to additional water flow if the state constructs the Perkins County Canal.

The project resurfaced in 2022, when then-Gov. Pete Ricketts and the Nebraska Legislature set aside roughly $500 million in funding to revive the plan.

Design work underway, construction timeline set

Jesse Bradley, director of the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment, said design work on the canal has advanced to roughly 60%.

“In terms of construction, we’re out here, we’ve been working very closely with Western Irrigation District,” Bradley said. “There’s a portion of the project that kind of overlaps with some of their infrastructure.”

Bradley said the state will need to resolve ongoing litigation over land acquisition in Colorado and other design elements before construction can begin. The current timeline calls for construction to begin later this decade, with the project scheduled to come online by the end of 2032.

The Perkins County Canal would divert water from the South Platte River near Ovid, Colorado, and return it to the South Platte River in Keith County near Roscoe.

Attorney General calls compact case critical

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers provided an update on litigation with Colorado, calling the South Platte River Compact case the most important his office will handle for generations.

“By our calculations, we think we have lost out on over 400 billion gallons of water,” Hilgers said.

Hilgers said Nebraska believes the compact entitles the state to at least 500 cubic feet per second of water through the canal. Colorado disputes that interpretation, calling it a cap rather than a guaranteed flow.

Local concerns over land, taxes

Ronald Berges, a Sedgwick County commissioner, said initial concerns centered on how the project would affect irrigated land and the county’s tax base.

“Initially, there was a lot of concern about irrigated land along the Platte River becoming non-irrigated land or dry land, which would affect our county tax base significantly,” Berges said. “Then, of course, there was the concern of the landowners and farmers there about possibly losing land to eminent domain or such and losing acres of production.”

Monday’s update comes as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prepares for a public comment period next week in Denver and Julesburg, Colorado, and Kearney, Nebraska.