Irrigation is in full swing for the North Platte Valley in the Panhandle of Nebraska. Water deliveries by the four major irrigation districts — including Pathfinder, Gering-Fort Laramie, Goshen and Farmers — are expected to be near normal. The districts hope to deliver water to growers through the first week in September.

All of that depends on what Mother Nature brings. In the event of higher-than-normal temperatures for an extended time period, the irrigation districts might need to allocate water or cut back on the number of days water is delivered.

The major drawback to all of this is that much of the water in storage in mainstem reservoirs in Wyoming will be used up this year, leaving a lesser amount in the reservoirs for the 2022 growing season. An above-normal snowpack and runoff in the mountains will be needed to fill the reservoirs. 

Flowing again

After the collapse of Tunnel No. 2 on the Goshen/Gering-Fort Laramie main canal in 2019, temporary repairs were made to Tunnels No. 1 and 2. Steel “ribs” were installed inside the tunnels to give support to the concrete tunnel walls.

Installation of the ribs restricted water flow to 80% to 85% of full capacity, and water flow for the 2020 growing season was reduced to about 1,200 cubic feet per second.

During the winter of 2020-21, metal sheeting was installed over the ribs to decrease water turbulence and increase flow through these tunnels. 

The tunnels are now flowing at 1,400 cfs, which is 97% of their previous maximum capacity of 1,450 cfs. Permanent repairs to the tunnels still have to be completed, with the final plans pending approval from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Stone is a Nebraska water and integrated cropping systems Extension educator. Groskopf is an Extension educator for agricultural economics. Thomas is a water and integrated cropping systems Extension educator. Qiao is an irrigation and water management specialist. Ostdiek is a communications specialist at Panhandle Research and Extension Center.

Source: UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.