Recharge Canals

Putting Water Back to the Platte River

The NRD has been proactive in creating new ways to increase irrigation efficiency, protect water supplies, and increase flows to the Platte River by working with the canal companies in Dawson County. The Canal Rehabilitation Project was initiated to:

Help meet requirements of the Platte River Recovery Program agreement between Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and the U.S. Department of Interior.
Help meet the requirements of LB 962 to return the Platte River to 1997 level of use and return the area between Lake McConaughy and Elm Creek from an over-appropriated to a fully appropriated condition.
Protect the agricultural economy by allowing all existing irrigated land to stay in production as irrigated land.
Increase flows to the Platte River protecting water supplies, municipal well fields, future water users and endangered species, by increasing flows to the river.
Provide groundwater recharge that protects water supplies for surface water and groundwater users and protects water quality.
Protect all existing water rights.

Over-Appropriated Area Retirements
By the close of 2020, the CPNRD Water Bank had a balance of 2,122 acre-feet of groundwater rights available for offset in the across the district and 2,500 ac-feet of surface water rights available for offset in the over-appropriated area.

Excess Flows
Excess Platte River flows were diverted by Cozad Canal, Thirty Mile Canal, and South Side Irrigation canals in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. Total diverted by the three canals was 89,590 AF and the computed recharge was 40,512 AF. In 2020, 2,950 AF (net diversion) of water was diverted for recharge through the canals.

Six-Mile Canal

This canal was the first canal that the NRD partnered with and the only canal that the NRD purchased with the intent to close it. After 116 years of use, landowners and farmers along the canal were eager to convert their land to groundwater use; which is more efficient and reliable than surface water. It also helps protect river flows and endangered species. The canal had been in place and diverting Platte River water since 1894, withdrawing an average of 2,377 acre-feet of water annually.

Fact Sheet

Cozad Ditch Company

The NRD partnered with Cozad Ditch Company in 2012 to manage the canal and to lease surface water as part of its efforts to increase Platte River flows and protect endangered species. The increased flow levels are required under the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP) and state law. Unused surface water flows are diverted from the irrigation canal back into the Platte River. The NRD also utilizes the canal after irrigation season to recharge excess Platte River flows when available.

By diverting the excess flows into the canal, water will recharge the aquifer and will filter back into the Platte River. The NRD helped fund a complete rehab of the canal to create a more efficient system. The canal has been in place diverting Platte River water since its water right was approved in 1894; with water rights to irrigate over 25,000 acres of land in the area between Gothenburg and Lexington in Dawson County. Grants from the Platte Basin Habitat Enhancement Program; which involves money from Platte Basin NRDs, the Nebraska Environmental Trust, and the state water management fund; paid for 60% of project costs.

Fact Sheet

Thirty-Mile Irrigation District

A Century of Service: Thirty Mile Canal Celebrates 100 Years
Manager Jim Harris Celebrates 50 years of service

The Thirty Mile Canal in Dawson County marked two significant milestones in July 2026: the 100th anniversary of the canal and Manager Jim Harris’s 50 years of service. The canal’s history began in 1926, when its first water right was approved. Construction followed in 1927, and the canal was dedicated on July 13, 1928, with water rights to irrigate 15,000 acres. More than 10,000 people traveled by train to attend the dedication, where the canal was celebrated as a place “Where IRRIGATION Is Turning a LAND OF PROMISE Into A LAND OF PRODUCTION.”

The $350,000 project was funded by 121 farmer stockholders and completed just 15 months after their first meeting at a cost of less than $25 per acre. In the generations since, the canal has provided dependable irrigation water to producers throughout the area.

A Partnership for Water Management
The Central Platte NRD and Thirty Mile Canal Company formed a partnership in 2012 to improve irrigation efficiency and strengthen long-term water management. The $5 million project included CPNRD’s $1.9 million purchase of a 50% interest in the company’s property and water delivery system. Grants from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (40%) and Nebraska Environmental Trust (20%) covered 60% of the Platte Basin Habitat Enhancement and Coalition Project’s costs. The modernization included replacement and/or installation of 8 bridges, 8 check structures, 9 drop structures, 3 roadway pipe crossings, 2 pipe laterals, 4 additional structures, 5 flow-measurement devices and riprap.

The main benefits of the project include groundwater recharge to enhance surface water and ground water supplies, protect water quality and help CPNRD move closer to a fully appropriated status. The rehabilitations also provide enhanced flows to the Platte River by diverting and retiming excess flows to the river; returning natural flow irrigation rights to the river; and help meet requirements of the PRRIP agreement and LB962 to return the Platte River to its 1997 level of use.

In 2013, Thirty Mile Canal Company reorganized as the Thirty Mile Irrigation District (TMID), becoming a political subdivision of the State of Nebraska. The following year, CPNRD and TMID established the Stream Flow Enhancement Alliance to coordinate delivery of surface water for irrigation and groundwater recharge. During the non-irrigation season, excess Platte River flows are diverted into the canal. Water seepage from the canal recharges groundwater that is hydrologically connected to the river, supporting groundwater supplies and return flows to the Platte River.

In 2021, a field office and storage facility were built at 75887 Road 414 in Cozad. The facility provides a shared location for CPNRD staff and strengthens coordination between the organizations. In Last year, updated check structures and six automated Rubicon gates were installed to improve water measurement, control and delivery efficiency throughout the canal system.

“Thirty Mile Canal has supported producers and communities for 100 years because generations of people have been willing to invest in its future,” said Lyndon Vogt, CPNRD general manager. “Jim Harris’s 50 years of service reflect that same commitment. Together, TMID and CPNRD are honoring that legacy by improving how water is delivered, measured and managed for the next generation.”

During his five decades of service, Harris has performed all aspects of the canal’s daily operations, including ordering water, operating head gates and river gates, monitoring river returns, and coordinating irrigation-water deliveries.

As the Thirty Mile Canal begins its second century, TMID remains committed to the purpose that first brought local farmers together a century ago: providing reliable irrigation water while continuing a tradition of innovation, partnership and water stewardship.

Fact Sheet

Southside Irrigation District

The NRD and Southside Irrigation District have a management-lease agreement for the Orchard/Alfalfa Canal. As part of the agreement, the CPNRD assists in operations for all of the irrigation district’s benefits and is responsible for half of the operations and maintenance costs. The NRD uses the canal after irrigation season to hold diverted off-season excess Platte River flows when available.

Water seeps from the canals into groundwater that is hydrologically connected to the river and provide river enhancement credits for Southside and the NRD. The project was funded through the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources Water Cash Fund at 60%, Southside Irrigation Company at 20% and Central Platte NRD at 20%.

Fact Sheet

The canal rehabs were developed as result of the NRD’s Water Banking Program; which began in January 2007 to try to reduce the need to regulate irrigators within the District. As part of the program, the NRD purchases water rights as a solution to balance water that is being used with water that is available. Two major programs required the NRD to find a solution– the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP) and Legislative Bill 962 (LB962).

The NRD must stay in compliance with both of these programs. Currently, the majority of the NRD is at its limit for water use, known as fully appropriated. The westernmost part of the District, above Elm Creek, is designated as over-appropriated; which requires the NRD to bring water back to a fully appropriated status. The Water Bank holds permanent easements on land accepted into the program and pays landowners to convert the irrigated land into dry land.

Central Platte NRD’s water bank was the first to be implemented in Nebraska. At least three other Natural Resource Districts (NRDs) currently considering water banks in the Platte Basin, especially those that have been declared over-appropriated. These NRDs include the Twin Platte NRD in North Platte, the Tri-Basin NRD in Holdrege and the North Platte NRD in Gering.

In January 2007, the board of directors approved the first water bank transaction in the district by approving a variance request and the deposit of 2.4 acre-feet per year into the District’s water bank. Jim Bendfeldt made the donation of the offset water. The CPNRD Water Banking Policy was implemented in May 2007, which defines the process of a how the water bank works. Through the water bank program, the NRD acquires water rights from landowners. For every acre-foot of water that impacts the river that the NRD can acquire, there’s that much less regulation and cutback the NRD will have to impose

Putting Water Back to the Platte River

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