Engineer tells Nebraska Colorado has right to South Platte River flow

BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado’s state water engineer has a message for the Nebraska o cials doubling down on their commitment to a $567 million canal across the border: You can build it, but the water may not come.

Colorado state engineer Kevin Rein acknowledges a historic compact gives Nebraska the right to build the canal at the South Platte River west of Julesburg. But in a ve-page response to Nebraska’s rst o cial evaluation of the plan, tacking closely to the direction set by Colorado’s attorney general, Rein says the actual water Nebraska is counting on may never show up.

e Nebraska report by an engineering rm makes multiple assumptions that Colorado disputes, in particular whether the water will be “physically