Nebraska v. Wyoming (Colorado, Impleaded Defendant, and the United States, Intervenor)

Background

Several Western states and the federal government agreed to change a 1945 court decree that governs how water from the North Platte River and its reservoirs is shared and used. The parties filed a stipulation on January 14, 1953 asking the Court to modify the old decree. The change replaces a numerical figure in the decree, adds rules about how the new Glendo Dam and Reservoir may be used, and revises how storage, priority of reservoir use, and evaporation losses are computed.

Reasoning

The Court was asked simply to approve the parties’ joint agreement and to enter the proposed modifications. The Court granted the joint motion and approved the stipulation, adopting the parties’ changes into the decree. Key amendments include substituting “145,000” for “135,000,” adding paragraphs that govern claims under the 1937 Act, fixing the order of priority among Pathfinder, Guernsey, Seminoe, Alcova and Glendo reservoirs, and spelling out Glendo’s storage limits and allowable uses.

Real world impact

The order sets who can store and use river water and how losses from evaporation and river carriage are calculated. It limits Colorado from asking the Court to change the decree for five years starting June 15, 1953. The rules affect irrigation water deliveries to Nebraska and Wyoming lands, how Glendo Reservoir may hold and use certain natural flow and flood waters, and operational priorities among the listed reservoirs.