Water Wars

November 7, 2011 Barbs and Backlashes No Comments

I know nobody will listen or take this seriously, especially after all of the flooding we have experienced this year. It happens every time we come out of a drought cycle and enter a wet cycle. . . but, I will continue to “preach” that water is going to be THE issue of this century for all of the western states including Nebraska. Everybody knows that when precipitation is below average and reservoirs, rivers and streams are being drained, but the issue does not go away and has not gone away just because the rain returns. We live in the Great Plains and I can guarantee we are going to have a dry cycle again; I do not know when that will be or how bad it will get, but it will get dry again, you can count on it.

I cannot post the video here, so you will have to follow the link to read the story and watch the video, http://www.9news.com/news/article/215806/188/Old-agreement-forces-Colo-to-drain-valuable-lake . Please take some time to look at that! That story illustrates exactly what I am talking about, and that story very much has Nebraska implications, especially in our Republican River basin.

I can tell you that there are a lot of politics involved in these issues and I cannot say anything about that without getting myself into trouble. All I will say is everyone needs to be aware and educate themselves on our water resources and how they are used. If you are like me, you would like to see water for fish & wildlife and outdoor recreation and you believe that rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs actually should have water in them. It is a complex issue and there will be a lot of sides fighting over who gets how much water. It is very likely that changes are on the horizon. If you want to see any water left for fish & wildlife and outdoor recreation, you need to be involved! Just because we have plenty of water now, it does not mean this issue has gone away.