FURNAS COUNTY, Neb. (Washington Insider Magazine)-Officials in Nebraska are investigating who breached a dam on an irrigation canal one night this month, releasing 16 million gallons of water, and why.
According to Brad Edgerton, general manager of the Frenchman Cambridge Irrigation District, which manages the almost 48-mile-long river, the mysterious water release from the Cambridge Canal cut the flow to around 18,000 acres of crops and threatened expensive irrigation equipment.
When Edgerton checked the canal on his computer that evening on August 13, it was running at its usual pace of 150 cubic feet per second, but the next morning the flow had been reduced in half, reported ABC NEWS. Around 200 miles west of Lincoln, close to the town of Cambridge, there had been an incident at the dam of the canal.
Edgerton rushed there and found that the two 10-foot sluice gates on the dam had been wrenched open, releasing the precious water into the Republican River. In accordance with the $52 per acre-foot price that farmers are required to pay, he calculates that around 50 acre-feet of water were lost during the approximately 8 hours that the gates were open. The water’s estimated value is $2,600.
Edgerton quickly contacted the sheriff, alerted farmers downstream of the situation, and got in touch with the Bureau of Reclamation to request that more water be released from the Harry Strunk Reservoir to restock the canal.
According to Furnas County Sheriff Doug Brown, he can only speculate as to who might have released the water.
Edgerton claimed that although he believes the sheriff is investigating every report, he has run into a dead end.
If the sheriff is able to identify the person who took the hand crank wheel from the place it hung nearby and used it to open the gates, Furnas County Attorney Patrick Calkins said he’ll try to uncover a state law that regulates the action of discharging canal water back into a river — or specifies penalties.
