Central provides surface water irrigation service to more than 113,000 acres in Phelps, Gosper, Kearney, Lincoln and Dawson counties. Another 110,000 acres served by several smaller irrigation projects receive supplemental water from Lake McConaughy. In addition, Central’s project provides documented groundwater recharge to more than 310,000 acres in and around Central’s service area, an area with extensive groundwater irrigation development.
The primary water supply for Central’s system originates in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. Water from the North Platte River flows into Lake McConaughy, mostly as return flows from irrigation projects in eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. The water stored in Lake McConaughy is released for electrical generation at the Kingsley Hydroplant, for cooling purposes at a coal-burning power plant and again for hydroelectric generation near North Platte before being diverted into Central’s Supply Canal. Once in the Supply Canal, the water is used to generate electricity at three more hydroplants, to cool a power plant that uses natural gas and for delivery to Central’s three main irrigation canals.
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The "Tri-County" Project
