WATER SECURITYU.S. Supreme Court to Hear Colorado-Nebraska Water Dispute
Nebraska has set aside $600 million for a new canal that would start along the South Platte River in the northwest corner of Colorado. But the state alleged Colorado has sought to impede the effort, in violation of its compact with Nebraska.
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to weigh in on the latest water squabble in the West, where Nebraska has accused Colorado of violating a century-old water rights agreement.
Nebraska has set aside $600 million for a new canal that would start along the South Platte River in the northwest corner of Colorado. But the state alleged Colorado has sought to impede the effort, in violation of its compact with Nebraska. The lawsuit also argues that Colorado has not given Nebraska its due amount of water from the river.
The Supreme Court announced it will hear the states’ arguments on the issue, giving Colorado until late September to respond. The move comes as water rights grow into an increasingly tense political issue in the West, with Colorado simultaneously involved in the unresolved Colorado River negotiations.
“Nebraska will finally have the opportunity to prove that Colorado has violated the Compact and to hold Colorado accountable for depriving Nebraska of water that rightfully belongs to our state,” Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said in a statement after the Supreme Court announcement last week.
The South Platte River Compact, signed by the two states in 1923, divvied up water rights and assigned an order of priority to its access. Under the agreement, Colorado is required to allow a minimum of 120 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) to flow into Nebraska from the river, assuming there is enough water to do so. This only occurs during the irrigation season, between April 1 and Oct. 15, while Colorado has exclusive access to the rest of the year.
Colorado has argued that shortages on Nebraska’s water requirements have come from a total lack of supply, which the contract does not require the state to make up for.
The Colorado Department of Natural Resources told The Center Square in an email that if it shuts off “junior” water users, those with rights to the river after Nebraska’s, and there is still not enough water to meet Nebraska’s allotted amount, then that is not a break with the contract.
But Nebraska Attorney General Hilgers told reporters last week, “We absolutely have not gotten the water to which we are entitled. In fact, it’s gone back decades.” The Supreme Court complaint also argued that Colorado had given junior water users access to the river before Nebraska.
