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HOLDREGE - Nebraska's largest lake is approaching a volume of 1 million acre-feet for the first time in nearly eight years.

Lake McConaughy may hold more than 1.3 million a-f by late spring, if projections are correct in the latest draft of Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District's 2010 operating plan.

"If the system stays wet, that 1.3 could happen," CNPPID Civil Engineer Cory Steinke said at Monday's Central board meeting in Holdrege. That mark still would be only 75 percent of a full reservoir at 1.7 million a-f.

"A lot of this hinges on the South Platte (river flows) hanging around," he added.

Steinke told the Hub the lake last held 1 million a-f of water in 2002. He reported that Monday's volume was 945,000 a-f of water, which is 290,000 a-f more than on the same date in 2008 and is about 54 percent of full. The lake also is 15 feet higher than last year.

Inflows of 1,300 cubic feet per second are 85 percent of average, but better than the 700 cfs at this time last year.

Wet weather in the North Platte and South Platte basins has produced the positive outlook that may have CNPPID directors rethinking irrigation allocations for 2010. The current plan is to deliver 15 inches of water per acre, which compares with allocations of 6.7 or 8.4 inches from the drought-depleted lake each of the past five years.

Central serves 112,000 crop acres in Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties.

CNPPID General Manager Don Kraus said the idea of going to a full delivery of 18 inches per acre in 2010 likely will be on the agenda for the board's Dec. 7 meeting.

CNPPID Natural Resources Manager Mike Drain said the issue isn't so much the volume of irrigation water involved, but that the 18-inch level allows for one more late-summer water delivery to crops that hasn't been possible with allocations.

Another plus in the proposed operating plan is to have normal operations at Elwood Reservoir for the first time in six years. That will mean putting gravity flows into the lake in February and operating pumps in March to fill it.

Steinke believes his water projections for the Platte Basin could be low. However, he still cautioned the Central directors that forecasts call for El Niño conditions, which usually means a warmer, drier winter.

"I hate putting this together in conditions we had last week," Steinke said, referring to wet weather that included record snow in parts of the basin.

He based Monday's conservative projections on 2010 inflows to Lake McConaughy of 840,000 a-f. The total for the 2009 water year was just less than 690,000.

"As long as the South Platte stays decent for us, we're good ... We can store all (the inflows) from the North Platte all winter," Steinke said.

Another wild card is whether federal Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs in Wyoming's part of the North Platte Basin fill in 2010. That's the key to full water deliveries to irrigation districts upstream of Lake McConaughy in the Nebraska Panhandle, Steinke said, and to the possibility of "spilling" extra water downstream into Nebraska.

In other business Monday, the Central directors:

n Approved $202,656 worth of changes to a contract with Voith Hydro Inc. of York, Pa., for a turbine rehabilitation project at the Kingsley Hydro. That bring the project total to $2,873,518. Items on the change list include pipes, bolts, nuts and pins, with greaseless items used in the turbine pit.

n Were told the annual Central Water Users meeting is scheduled at 9 a.m. Nov. 19 at the Super 8 in Holdrege.

n Were told the target dates for the 2010 Nebraska Water Tour of the Platte Basin are July 12-15. Sponsors of the 2009 tour to California were CNPPID, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Water Center and Conservation and Survey Division, Farm Credit Services of America, The Flatwater Group, Gateway Farm Expo, Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce, and Nebraska Public Power District.

e-mail to:

lori.potter@kearneyhub.com