Gary Stone, Jessica Groskopf, and John Thomas, Extension Educators; Dr. Xin Qiao, Extension Water & Irrigation Management Specialist; and David Ostdiek, Extension Communications
July 17 will mark the one-year anniversary of an event that many irrigators in western Nebraska will not forget – the Goshen / Gering-Ft Laramie Irrigation Districts Tunnel No. 2 collapsed, causing a breach in the main canal that dried up water deliveries for irrigators on the south side of the North Platte River under these two districts.
The farmers lost water for 42 days during the critical crop growing time, affecting over 107,000 acres in the North Platte River Valley of Nebraska and Wyoming.