By the Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, July 5, 2011 8:00 pm
Inflows to Lake McConaughy have declined over the past week and it appears peak water flows have passed, the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District said Tuesday.
Cory Steinke, civil engineer with the Holdrege-based district, said it looks like much of the Platte Basin "dodged a bullet" with respect to higher flows.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had warned Central to expect inflows of up to 13,000 cubic feet per second -- which would have set a record at Lake McConaughy -- with sustained inflows around 10,000 cfs.
But inflows peaked at 9,000 cfs on June 20 and have been trending downward since. Inflows as of Tuesday were around 5,500 cfs.
"The snowpack to produce those kinds of inflows was there, but it didn't melt as quickly as expected and high inflows from the Laramie River (a tributary to the North Platte River) never materialized," Steinke said. "As a result, it doesn't look like we're going to see the very high inflows that had been projected."
Steinke said there is still room in Seminoe and Glendo reservoirs on the North Platte River in Wyoming, so releases from the bureau's reservoirs have likely peaked.
He said Central has been reducing outflows from Lake McConaughy as inflows have declined to help ease conditions along the North Platte River near the city of North Platte.
"It might be too early to predict that we've hit our peak inflows and elevation at Lake McConaughy, but we don't expect those numbers to get much higher unless there's a big rainfall event upstream," Steinke said in a news release.
Concerns over the potential for high flows in the South Platte River have also diminished, he said.
While snowpack and reservoir conditions in Colorado indicated that high flows in the South Platte River were likely, the runoff came slowly enough that the slightly elevated flows have so far caused few problems.
Steinke said the situation will be evaluated over the rest of the summer and into the fall as Central makes plans to draw Lake McConaughy down below elevation 3,260 feet by Oct. 1.
Central personnel are planning to meet with officials in North Platte to discuss operational releases and flows in the river as the lake is lowered.
http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/article_36a8a69a-9bd4-5648-aeb9-b2085e0586fb.html
