Nebraska moving ahead with Perkins County Canal plans despite Colorado’s concerns
By Fred Knapp , Senior Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Sept. 25, 2024, 6 a.m. ·

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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.
Joe Frank drives his pickup up a hill in the brown, dry plains of eastern Colorado, and describes the rock formation that’s about to pop into view.
“So we're coming up on the actual butte itself, Fremont Butte," Frank says. "You'll be able to see it as we top over this hill. The reservoir – the proposed reservoir – is actually named after the butte itself. Now it won't be that high. It'll actually sit down in a bowl down below."
Frank is general manager of the Lower South Platte Conservancy District, which oversees irrigation water vital to agriculture in this relatively dry region. And he’s got big plans.
“So down by those trees from that basically hill, across the hill, there would be about a mile-long dam," he said. "The proposed dam would be from, you can kind of see where that stock tank is up on the hill, and then straight across and match up with the other hill there. And at the deepest point, it would be about 110 feet deep."
Frank said half the water stored could be used for agriculture, and half could be piped back upstream to the growing Denver suburb of Parker.

The idea for this reservoir predates Nebraska’s 2022 announcement of renewed plans to build a canal to bring South Platte River water to Nebraska. But the proposed reservoir, and other projects like it, show the fierce competition for water between the states, and between agricultural, urban, and other uses of the precious resource within each state.
An interstate compact between Nebraska and Colorado signed in the 1920s gives Nebraska the right to build a canal and use the water for irrigation. But it doesn’t mention other uses, like providing water for threatened and endanger species of fish and birds. That’s the goal of the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program that Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming and the federal government agreed to in 2007.
Colorado State Engineer Jason Ullman said the canal would affect that program.
“There's going to be impacts to Platte River Recovery Implementation program, because there's recharge that occurs in Colorado in the wintertime that would potentially be called out by this project,” Ullman said.

In other words, if Nebraska takes water during the wintertime, as the compact allows, that leaves less water in Colorado to soak into the ground and ultimately flow downstream to benefit wildlife. But if Nebraska then uses some of it to benefit wildlife, instead of irrigation, could that violate the compact?
Jesse Bradley, Nebraska’s interim Director of Natural Resources, said that’s not in the state’s plan.

“The plumbing of the system is such that water saved by storing it on the South Platte is water that's saved on the North Platte, if that makes sense, because of Lake McConaughy," Bradley said. "So there's certainly opportunities that we can save additional waters in Lake McConaughy and then work…with the folks in the Platte River recovery program to make sure that we're also able to leverage those water resources to meet that program's milestones."
That is to say, using the canal to bring water to reservoirs along the South Platte for irrigation could free up water from the North Platte, currently used for irrigation, to be used for fish and wildlife instead.
While that issue could affect the fate of the project, questions are being raised about other matters as well. When he was asked about the project in May, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said he supports the project, but expressed concern about legal fees.
“If it gets tied up and lawyers start taking it all, I would go to the Unicameral and abandon it…I’m a Perkins Canal advocate, but not if hundreds of millions are going to attorneys. So we’re seeing where that’s at,” Pillen said.
Since January, 2022 when then-Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed reviving the canal, Nebraska has paid outside attorneys just over $700,000 in connection with the project, according to Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers’ office.
In a statement to Nebraska Public Media News, Shelby Wieman, a spokesperson for Colorado Gov. Jared Polis highlighted potential costs.
“This canal to nowhere would be a waste of money when states should be responsibly managing taxpayer dollars to preserve our precious water now and in the future,” Wieman said. “Colorado will continue to meet in good faith with Nebraska to learn more about the costly and unrealistic plans for the construction and operation of the proposed Perkins County Canal.”
But Bradley said Pillen is still firmly behind the project.
“I've talked with him, and I know he's fully committed to the project," Bradley said. "We still see this project as critical to the future economic prosperity of the state… We're moving ahead of schedule. He's happy with the progress, and I know he's fully committed to the project."
Pillen spokeswoman Laura Strimple confirmed the governor is “fully committed” to the completion of the canal.
Bradley said the schedule calls for submitting an application to the Army Corps of Engineers for the necessary permits by around the end of this year. And he said the whole project is expected to take 10 years from when it was proposed to the finish, which would put its completion in 2032.
Whether or not that happens could depend on legal challenges and budget constraints.
More about the Perkins County Canal project:
Colorado wary of Nebraska’s plans for Perkins County Canal
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