Colorado wary of Nebraska’s plans for Perkins County Canal

Sept. 24, 2024, 6 a.m. ·

Jay Goddard stands in front of where the old Perkins County Canal cuts through his pasture (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
Jay Goddard stands in front of where the old Perkins County Canal cuts through his pasture. (Photo by Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)

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Nebraska is moving ahead with plans for a canal to transport water to the state from Colorado. But for now, the project exists only on paper. Nebraska Public Media’s Fred Knapp visited with people in both states for their perspectives in this two-part series about the Perkins County Canal.


Jay Goddard guides his SUV along a gravel road just east of the Julesburg, Colorado cemetery and shows his visitor a ghost.

“So this is my pasture over here and you can see it going through there,” Goddard says. "See where the white cut – cut out? And then it just keeps weaving all the way through there. But we’ll go out there."

“It” – the ghost – is what remains of the Perkins County Canal, a project started, and abandoned, in the 1890s. Now, it looks like an old ditch running parallel to Interstate 76.

The old Perkins County Canal parallels I-76 just east of Julesburg, Colorado (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
The old Perkins County Canal parallels I-76 just east of Julesburg, Colorado. (Photo by Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)
Jesse Bradley (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
Jesse Bradley

But as a recently-installed survey marker on the road near Goddard’s gate shows, Nebraska is making plans for the canal to spring back to life. Jesse Bradley, interim director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, said those plans are moving ahead.

“Over the last year, we’ve been working extensively on moving forward with the design process and the permitting process for the project. We also acquired a portion of land in Colorado,” Bradley said.

Nebraska has set aside $628 million for the canal. So far it has spent about $6 million, primarily for design, which Bradley said is about 30 percent complete.

Map showing location of proposed Perkins County Canal (Nebraska Public Media Graphic)
The location of the proposed Perkins County Canal. (Nebraska Public Media Graphic)
Jason Ullman (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News
Jason Ullman

Bradley’s counterpart in Colorado is State Engineer Jason Ullman, who said his state is watching the canal planning process.

“In Colorado, we continue to meet and listen to our water users about their concerns regarding the project…There’s a lot of concern about the impacts about this project,” Ullman said.

Those impacts could include less water for farmers in northeast Colorado to irrigate their crops. Goddard, who runs a bank in Julesburg, said that would hurt.

“It could affect the economy of these small towns drastically," he said. "If you lose some of the irrigation, obviously you're going to lose families… not just because of the farming, but then maybe I have one less loan officer here in the community, which is a decent paying job, and one less pharmacist at the pharmacy, because people aren't coming in. (The) grocery store goes down some because it has less employees, because there's less people shopping at your grocery store, there's less teachers, because you have less kids. Those things just kind of steamroll."

But avoiding those kind of impacts in Nebraska was why U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts said he revived the canal proposal two years ago when he was Nebraska's governor.

Devin Brundage, general manager of the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District headquartered in Holdrege, said building the canal is necessary to protect Nebraska’s right to water.

Jay Goddard points to new Perkins County Canal survey marker near his pasture (Photo by Fred Knapp, Nebraska Public Media News)
Jay Goddard points to new Perkins County Canal survey marker near his pasture. (Photo by Fred Knapp/Nebraska Public Media News)

“I think as you see development, and you see changes in water usage, as there's more developments on the Front Range, there's more demand for that water, and that water that may have been coming across to us, you see the future where that doesn't and so it really is the potential to lose what we have today,” Brundage said.

Bradley described the impact.

“We look at it as without the project, we risk losing 100,000 irrigated acres worth of supply... We would lose the ability to serve that acreage if we don't maintain those South Platte waters. And so that's why it's critical,” he said.

Colorado officials acknowledge the strain on agriculture posed by the growing demand for water on the Front Range. But Joe Frank, general manager of the Colorado’s Lower South Platte Conservancy district, which serves irrigators in northeast Colorado, said the Perkins County Canal won’t solve the problem.

“The Front Range is going to continue to grow, and there's only a few sources of water," Frank said. "Their primary source is still to dry up agriculture. That's kind of the status quo in Colorado. This isn't going to do anything to the Front Range. It's only going to impact the agricultural user."

That’s because, while a century-old interstate compact gives Nebraska permission to build the canal, it can claim priority rights to water only in eastern Colorado. Any water from around Fort Morgan on west is beyond Nebraska’s control. And Colorado has plenty of plans for that water.


More about the Perkins County Canal project:

Pillen: 'I'll abandon Perkins Canal if legal costs get too high'

Perkins County Canal faces practical, legal questions

Nebraska begins buying Colorado land for Perkins County Canal

Perkins County Canal plans spark enthusiasm, skepticism in Ogallala

Nebraska's planned canal could hurt northeast Colorado farmers

Colorado says proposed canal to Nebraska won't stop Front Range demands for water

After 100 years, Nebraska revives plans to build a canal, stirring controversy with Colorado