Republican River Compact and Settlement

David Barfield's April 22, 2008 letter to Nebraska clarifying economic remedy for Nebraska's 2005-2006 violations.

Republican River Compact Enforcement Fact Sheet, March 31, 2008.

David Barfield's February 19, 2008 letter to Ann Bleed and Kansas memo on allocation of Harlan County Lake evaporation.

David Barfield's February 8 letter submitting dispute with Nebraska as a fast-track issue for Republican River Compact Administration.

Introduction

After years of dispute regarding the use of the Republican River, Kansas filed suit against Nebraska in 1998 in the U.S. Supreme Court alleging that Nebraska had violated the Republican River Compact.  During 1999, the court agreed to hear the case and appointed a special master.  In 2000, the Court denied Nebraska's motion to dismiss the case based on its theory that groundwater use was not governed by the compact.  Additional information:

Settlement

During October 2001, concurrent with discovery and other pretrial activities, the parties began settlement negotiations.  On December 16, 2002, the States announced that a settlement had been reached.  On May 19, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court approved the settlement and dismissed the case with prejudice effective upon the filing by the special master of a final report certifying adoption of the Republican River Compact Administration RRCA Groundwater Model by the state parties.  On June 30, 2003, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska reached agreement on the Republican River Compact Administration (RRCA) groundwater model.  The model will be used to quantify groundwater consumptive use by each state as part of the compact's accounting procedures.  On August 22, 2003, the RRCA formally adopted the settlement's accounting procedures, including the groundwater model.  On October 20, 2003, the court, based on the final report of the special master, took notice of this action, bringing an end to litigation between the states.

Below are links to the Final Settlement Stipulation, key appendices and a summary of the settlement.  Other documents include a chronology of the dispute, litigation and settlement, as well as a before-and-after settlement comparison.  To obtain more information regarding the settlement, or a full set of the settlement documents, contact Interstate Water Issues at (785) 296-3710.

Update

Since the settlement was reached, the states have worked to implement its provisions.  The states annually exchange an extensive array of water use and other data and run a joint groundwater model.  See www.republicanrivercompact.org for compact accountings, model data sets and supporting data.

Two special studies agreed to in the settlement are under way.  First, the states and the federal government developed, and the RRCA approved, a plan for a five-year study of the impact of conservation practices on the basin's water supply.  That study is to be completed in 2009.  Second, the Bureau of Reclamation, Kansas and Nebraska completed an appraisal level study of potential system improvements in the lower Republican basin to improve use of the water.  The appraisal study found alternatives worthy of additional scrutiny, and the bureau and the states developed a plan for a more detailed feasibility study.  It is expected to cost about $1.25 million and take roughly three years to complete, and efforts are under way to obtain the required congressional authorization and funding.

During much of this initial period of Settlement implementation, water supplies in the basin are low.  No water was supplied from a number of the federal reservoirs during this period.  2004 was the first year no water was delivered from Harlan County Reservoir since it was built in the 1950s.

Under the settlement, the first normal compliance check is a five-year running average test for the years 2003 to 2007.  The settlement also prescribes more restrictive compliance requirements during water-short conditions, including two-year averaging.  The settlement prescribes the first water-short compliance check to be for 2006 (averaging years 2005 & 2006).

Compact accountings developed to date show both Nebraska and Colorado have overused their allocations in the individual years 2003 to 2006.

Although Kansas and Nebraska disagree on certain portions of the final accounting for 2005 and 2006, Nebraska is significantly out of compliance for this first period of water-short year administration, regardless which state's methodology is used.  Further, although the accounting for 2007 is not yet available, it is clear that Nebraska will be out of compliance for the statewide five-year accounting period 2003 through 2007.  As a result, on December 19, 2007, Kansas provided Nebraska a remedy for the 2006 water-short year violation and a list of actions Nebraska needs to take to prevent future violations.  For more detailed information, see Remedy for Nebraska's Violation of the Decree in Kansas v. Nebraska and Colorado, No. 126, Original, U.S. Supreme Court (Attachment 5 updated on January 4, 2008).  As a result of Nebraska's refusal to take the requested actions, on February 8, 2008, Kansas requested the Compact Administration consider the dispute as a "fast-track" issue under the terms of the settlement.

The Republican River Compact Administration met March 11 and 12 to consider Kansas and Nebraska's dispute over Kansas' proposed remedy for Nebraska's overuse of Republican River basin water in 2005 and 2006 in violation of the compact and final settlement stipulation.  Kansas asked the RRCA to address the matter as the first step in the dispute resolution procedure established in the settlement.

At the meeting, Nebraska gave a presentation on its plan to reach compliance with the compact and settlement.  Nebraska also provided information on its concerns with compact accounting and the analysis that underlies Kansas' proposed remedy.  While Kansas has reserved the right to proceed with the dispute resolution process at any time, compact commisioners agreed to meet several times over the next couple of months to review these matters in more depth.

Colorado also provided information at the RRCA meeting on its proposed compliance pipeline to offset depletions.  Colorado plans to purchase roughly 15,000 acre-feet of existing consumptive use water currently used for irrigation in the North Fork Republican River basin.  This purchased water will be pumped into a 12 and one-half mile long pipeline and delivered to the North Fork Republican River at the Colorado-Nebraska state line.  Kansas' stance is that Colorado is overusing its South Fork Republican River allocation and must also take action to get into compliance on the south fork.  The compliance pipeline proposal has been referred to the compact administration's engineering committee for review.  Under the settlement terms, all three states must approve the proposal.

Last updated April 22, 2008.