News Release Archive

Reclamation Provides Drought Assistance to Nebraska

Media Contact: Judy O'Sullivan, (308) 389-4622 ext. 211, 04/18/2005 06:00
Mark Andersen, mandersen@gp.usbr.gov

For Release: April 18, 2005

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John Keys announced today that $84,750 has been approved for drought relief for four irrigation districts in southwest Nebraska.

Declining inflows throughout the Republican River Basin have significantly reduced storage supplies for irrigation districts in the southwest part of the state. This area has suffered from the effects of severe drought for the past five years.

This funding provides financial incentives to the Frenchman Valley Irrigation District, Culbertson; H & RW Irrigation District, Culbertson; Frenchman-Cambridge Irrigation District, Cambridge; and Bostwick Irrigation District in Nebraska, Red Cloud, for leaving limited amounts of 2005 irrigation storage water in Swanson Lake, Enders Reservoir, Hugh Butler Lake, and Harlan County Lake for future years' use. Saving the irrigation storage water for future use will result in higher reservoir levels, benefiting fisheries and improving shoreline access for recreation uses.

The funds are being made available under the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991, which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to fund activities that minimize losses and damages resulting from drought conditions in the 17 western states.

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