LINCOLN (AP) - Farmers and ranchers who rely on irrigated water know bad news is coming, but that doesn't make the news any easier for them to take.
A lingering drought and little snow pack in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming mean farmers and ranchers won't get water from some reservoirs this year and very little from others.
"It doesn't look too good," said Roger Patterson, director of the state Department of Water Resources. "You can't say a lot."
Irrigators relying on water from Swanson Reservoir near Trenton and the Harlan County Reservoir near Alma, for example, are being told to expect only and inch or so of water this year.
In a normal year, they get about 12 inches.
"It won't pay to wet the ditch for that kind of delivery," said Lee Orton, executive director of the Nebraska State Irrigation Association.
Lake McConaughy near Ogallala, the state's largest reservoir, is at 38 percent of capacity and at its lowest level in 45 years.
Panhandle irrigators who take water from Pathfinder and Guernsey reservoirs in Wyoming are being told to expect about 60 percent of their normal allotment for the third year in a row.
Last year, the area had enough rain that irrigators didn't have to take any water until late June.
"But even with that ... they only had enough water to get them through August," said John Lawson of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation office in Mills, Wyo.
Things are so bad in some places that officials in four irrigation districts have asked the federal government to defer their annual payments, which are meant to help pay for building dams and canals, said Steve Ronshaugen of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Grand Island.
The irrigation districts are: Frenchman Cambridge in Cambridge; Frenchman Valley in Culberston; the Nebraska Bostwick in Red Cloud; and the Kansas Bostwick in Courtland, Kan.
"The likelihood is the federal government probably will be lenient in that regard," Orton said.
In 1970, about 1 million acres in Nebraska were surface water-irrigated, compared with about 3 million irrigated with groundwater. Currently, about 1.2 million acres are irrigated with surface water, while the number of acres irrigated with groundwater has risen to about 8.5 million, Orton said.
The Nebraska Supreme Court is considering a case filed by the Spear T Ranch near Bridgeport that accuses groundwater irrigators of depleting area streams.
The ranch claims irrigation from wells has caused Pumpkin Creek to be dry most of the year, preventing the ranch from growing hay to feed its cattle.
The flow in streams and rivers is controlled by the state, which sets water allocations for surface irrigators. Groundwater irrigators, on the other hand, are controlled by area natural resources districts, which allocate groundwater equally to each user.
Many streams in the state rely heavily on groundwater for replenishment. Orton said the only thing that will help fill the reservoirs is rain - and lots of it.
"Unless we get a break, the storage will not be able to be relied upon satisfactorily next year," he said.
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