The Keith–Lincoln County Irrigation District: A Historic Small District in Western Nebraska
The KLCID’s headgate system.
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he Keith–Lincoln County Irrigation District (KLCID), located in western Nebraska, has been operating since the late 19th century. Aside from a headgate system installed during the 1970s, the canal system used by the KLCID today also dates back to that time. In this interview, we speak with KLCID Board President Mark McConnell about the district’s operations and the challenges of a small irrigation district. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the KLCID. Mark McConnell: It was established over 100 years ago, and its canal system was built in the late 1800s. Our appropriation dates to 1894 and was obtained during the construction
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Irrigation Leader: What are the major crops that are grown in your district? Mark McConnell: Predominantly row crops. Corn and soybeans make up 80–90 percent of the acreage; then there is some alfalfa and a little bit of wheat, most of which is not irrigated. There was a time when there were a lot of sugar beets, but we lost all our local processing and shipping facilities, so sugar beets have mainly disappeared. Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the source of your water and the date of your water right? irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GABBY PERLINGER.
Mark McConnell: I’m a director for the district. Our district is pretty small. It covers parts of two counties—Keith and Lincoln. It is governed by an elected three-member board and has a single ditch rider. Each director represents one of the district’s three subdistricts. I have been board president for 4–5 years. I am also an active farmer and a patron of the district. I use the water from our system on my farms. Actually, owning land within the district is a requirement to serve on the board and to have voting authority.
process. The canal system was finished around 1898–99. We’re not a huge district. Over the years, we’ve had around 5,000–6,000 acres. We lost a few in later years—we went through a drastic recertification process during the late 1980s, when the Nebraska Department of Water Resources came in and reviewed which acres were being irrigated and which were not. We lost some eligible irrigated acres and subsequently some of our flow rights after that adjudication. Our current tax base is around 5,600 acres. We rebuilt our headgate system during the mid‑1970s; that was probably the largest improvement we have made to the system. Other than that, our system has remained pretty much the same since we started, and the age of our structures is beginning to show.
