Pipeline being installed between the Phelps Canal and the Cottonwood Ranch complex.
Aiding Groundwater Recharge in Central Nebraska
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or many irrigation districts throughout the United States, groundwater recharge has become an increasingly important element of water management. Such is the case with the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID), which is partnering with the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Tri-Basin Natural Resources District, and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources to mitigate the negative effects of low water levels in the Platte River. In this interview, Joshua Dill, the managing editor of Irrigation Leader, speaks with Tyler Thulin, a civil engineer at CNPPID, about his district and its groundwater recharge program. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you ended up in your current position.
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about CNPPID. Tyler Thulin: CNPPID delivers surface water through three irrigation canals (the Phelps Canal, E65, and E67) and a
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Joshua Dill: Would you tell our readers about the pipeline you are currently installing? Tyler Thulin: It is a 42-inch PVC pipeline that runs a little over 1½ mile from the Phelps Canal to the water retention area at the Cottonwood Ranch Complex, where it is used IRRIGATION LEADER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CNPPID.
Tyler Thulin: I studied civil engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The summer before I graduated, I was offered an internship with the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District. A couple months after the summer internship ended, the district offered me a full-time job. Water was something I was always interested in college, so I took the job. Seven years later, I am still there.
supply canal to just under 108,000 acres across Nebraska’s Gosper, Phelps, and Kearney Counties. Our main storage reservoir is Lake McConaughy, which is located in the western part of the state and is the largest reservoir in Nebraska. Water is released from Lake McConaughy and diverted into our supply canal from the North Platte River at North Platte, Nebraska. From there, the water flows through three hydropower plants before either being diverted into the irrigation canals Tyler Thulin, civil engineer toward the tail end of the at CNPPID. supply canal or being returned to the Platte River near Lexington, Nebraska. Water that is diverted into our irrigation canals is either delivered to fields for irrigation or to recharge the groundwater. Our irrigation canals consist of approximately 350 miles of open laterals and 140 miles of pipelines.
