State effort to hold CO to century-old agreement

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He said Colorado law keeps the flows coming to them and in turn to Nebraska."We're doing a better job getting that water down the river to Nebraska than trying to run it through some canal," Ament saidHe believes Nebraska's claim of winter water would put the squeeze on farmers
He said that is because farmers in Lower South Platte could sell their senior water rights to municipalities upstream."Because we don't have an appropriation in the basin, because we don't have that canal we don't fit the class of people that would be protected (under Colorado law) in the event of a transfer of a water right to the upper part of the basin," Schutz said
Ament said Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming are also obligated under Federal agreements to provide flows to protect habitat for endangered species near Kearney and Grand Island."This is going to amount to a lot of money to our lawyers and not improving the management of water," Ament said
"We're doing a better job getting that water down the river to Nebraska than trying to run it through some canal," Ament said He believes Nebraska's claim of winter water would put the squeeze on farmers.