Thompson Creek Watershed
The Thompson Creek Watershed in Franklin and Kearney counties covers 116,680 acres in the central portion of the Republican River Basin.
View Public Meeting Details ⟶
Almost 99% of those acres are for agricultural use and one percent for residential and commercial / industrial properties.
Download Project Area Map ⟶
Groundwater and surface water irrigation is plentiful in the Republican River Basin and the demand for water is often more than what is available, especially in dry years.
The Lower Republican Natural Resources District has received funding from the Natural Resources Conservation District to identify solutions that can help solve the complex water supply issues by developing a watershed Plan – Environmental Assessment, or Plan-EA, for the Thompson Creek Watershed in Franklin and Kearney counties.
About the project.
Water shortages have created competition for limited water supplies and a long history of interstate litigation, although the Republican River Basin states have been working cooperatively since 2015 to address these issues.
. The area is also prone to extensive flooding that affects agricultural lands and there, flooding was identified as a top concern by the local planning team in the Quad Counties Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan Update in 2016.
Looking to the future, the risks and impacts of climate change on the basin’s water supplies will only be magnified. Because of this, the Lower Republican NRD has been working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to address the issues affecting the highly productive agricultural economy.
The focus on the Thompson Creek watershed is based on the Lower Republican NRD’s goals to:
Improve agricultural water supply
Improve
water quality
Improve
groundwater reliability
Improve irrigation
conveyance structures
Reduce agricultural
flood damage