From: http://www.kearneyhub.com/html/news/news_1.htm

June 27, 2003

Irrigators:

New river water models flawed

By LORI POTTER Hub Staff Writer

KEARNEY - Computer models that will be tools to set Platte River Basin water policies and regulations are being challenged by a Nebraska groundwater irrigation group and a member who is an engineer.

Nebraskans First officials and Ron Klein, a Berthoud, Colo., engineer and Gothenburg farm owner, question the quality of the facts and methods being used to create the Cooperative Hydrology Study models. They presented their concerns Thursday at the Central Platte Natural Resources District Board of Directors meeting in Grand Island and at press conferences in Grand Island and Kearney.

Klein also launched a Web site Thursday at www.platterivertruth.org on which he has posted information he says proves that, in the long run, Platte River flows haven't been hurt by groundwater well development.

"The COHYST model is to be complete in a year," Klein said in Kearney. "If someone doesn't stand up to it, a lot of people are going to get hurt, including me."

Klein and Nebraskans First Executive Director Don Adams of Lincoln said model developers aren't using real world facts.

Klein said his suspicions were raised when he couldn't get answers to his COHYST questions in January at the annual meeting of Nebraska Water Users, another organization to which he belongs.

"They went out of their way to be evasive," he said, "so they got my interest."

He also wasn't satisfied with a COHYST presentation Thursday morning at a CPNRD meeting. Klein said the models must be done right because they will be used by bureaucrats, politicians, environmentalists, government agencies and others wanting to control Platte Basin water.

Based on CPNRD and U.S. Geological Survey data, Klein said there were fewer than 1,000 groundwater wells in the study area in 1941 and more than 47,000 today. The average river flow at Grand Island from 1932 to 2000 was 1,600 cubic feet per second.

Using five-year and 10-year averages since 1935, he said river flows at Grand Island have mostly been above average the past 30 years, although annual flow patterns will always vary.

"The increase in river flow correlates directly with the greater use of groundwater irrigation in the Platte River," Klein said, which is the opposite message being sent because few people are looking at the big picture.

He believes another "oh, my goodness, the sky is falling" issue is depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer.

Using a well on his Dawson County farm as an example, he said there have been only modest ups and downs in aquifer levels the past 70 years, and the level is higher now than in the 1930s. Klein said a long-term approach also is needed when looking at aquifers.

"If you pick the wrong data at the wrong period of time, you're going to conclude the wrong things and take the wrong actions. The (hydrology) system was designed by the creator so that it takes care of its needs over the long term. That's what's happening," Klein said. "So stop saying the sky is falling."

As a trained electrical engineer who has done much U.S. Department of Defense work on missile and radar systems, Klein said he understands basic engineering methods. He has found flaws in the methods used by COHYST modelers.

He said the model should be compared to the physical reality so that adjustments can be made to reflect reality. "They don't have all the answers, and they don't want to get all the answers. They want the answers they want," Klein said, adding that the modelers seem to be addressing a standard, but not the need for the models.

Adams said that method will lead to flawed models used as tools to set irrigation policies and regulations that could be economically devastating for Nebraska.

"The end goal is to control irrigation wells, and they want a model to show that's necessary," Klein said. He believes the data he gathered in only a few hours shows such controls aren't needed.

He agrees that there are hydrological connections between groundwater and surface water in some areas of the Platte Basin, but they're not necessarily harmful to the river.

Adams said he probably will seek a meeting soon with state officials to discuss COHYST concerns.

"I still have faith that the governor and Roger Patterson (director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources) will do the right thing," he said. "This has got to be reined in."

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lori.potter@kearneyhub.com