TOPEKA, Kan.—Kansas demanded Tuesday that Nebraska pay more than $72 million for taking too much water from the Republican River, but Nebraska’s attorney general said the figure has “no basis in reality.”
Kansas officials already had proposed that Nebraska cut pumping from wells in its portion of the river basin to comply with a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decree governing water use.
The dispute could go back to the nation’s high court early next year if the two states can’t resolve their disagreements.
Kansas contends Nebraska’s water use exceeded what was allowed for 2005 and 2006 by nearly 26 billion gallons, or nearly enough to supply a city of 100,000 for 10 years. Nebraska officials acknowledge some past overuse but contend they’ve taken steps to comply with the court decree.
The latest demand came from David Barfield, the chief engineer for Kansas’ Division of Water Resources, in a letter to Brian Dunnigan, the acting director of Nebraska’s Department of Natural Resources.
Barfield said forcing Nebraska to pay Kansas would give Nebraska an incentive to comply with the court decree. He noted that the states continue to monitor water use and said Nebraska remained out of compliance last year.
“We’re after compliance,” Barfield said during an interview. “They’re only going to be motivated to comply if there’s some consequence.”
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said the method Kansas used for calculating the payment has been rejected in other water litigation.
He said in a statement that Nebraska is committed to resolving the dispute but, “We’re disappointed to receive a damage claim that has no basis in reality.”
The dispute is before a commission set up to administer a 1943 compact on the river among Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. If it doesn’t resolve the disagreement, Kansas must seek arbitration before turning to the Supreme Court again.
Barfield’s letter said Kansas estimated that Nebraska received economic gains of $63 million by not complying with the compact. He added 15 percent to that figure to cover Kansas’ legal costs and create an incentive for Nebraska to comply, to reach $72 million.
“Nebraska’s failure to comply with the compact continues to hurt Kansas farmers and communities,” Kansas Attorney General Steve Six said. “We are looking for a way to bring Nebraska into compliance and deter them from continuing to ignore the compact in the future.”
But Bruning said Kansas has not provided information that Nebraska has repeatedly requested, detailing the damages Kansas has suffered.
North and south forks of the Republican flow from northeast Colorado into Nebraska, converging just over the border. The river then flows through southern Nebraska into north-central Kansas and Milford Lake northwest of Junction City. Its basin covers almost 25,000 square miles.
The 1943 compact allocated 49 percent of the river’s water to Nebraska, 40 percent to Kansas and 11 percent to Colorado. In 1998, Kansas sued Nebraska, alleging its neighbor to the north violated the compact by allowing thousands of wells to tap the river and its tributaries.
The three states settled that lawsuit, and the Supreme Court’s decree approved the settlement. But Kansas officials have continued to complain that Nebraska is taking too much water.
In December, Kansas proposed shutting down wells in Nebraska within 2.5 miles of the river and its tributaries, as well as land in the basin where irrigation started after 2000. Those wells supply about 42 percent of the 1.2 million acres in Nebraska’s portion of the river basin.
“They are working, but they are not there yet, and so we have to keep pressing until they get there,” Barfield said.
But Bruning said Nebraska doesn’t expect to use its full share of Republican River water in 2008. He also said some farmers in the river basin have used up to 30 percent less water than they were allocated in recent years.
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Associated Press Newsman Nate Jenkins in Lincoln, Neb., contributed to this report.
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