What you need to know about Nebraska's water fight with Colorado

Nebraska's governor is embracing the maxim that "water is for fighting" — and the war he's waging is against Colorado.

Threat level: Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts is seeking to invoke a 99-year-old compact approved by Congress that allows Nebraska to divert water from the South Platte River through a canal near Ovid, on Colorado's northern border.

• The $500 million project is a top priority to provide water to Nebraska farms and ranches.
• Ricketts is warning lawmakers and residents that Colorado's population growth on the Front Range could significantly reduce the river's flow into his state.

What he's saying: "Colorado is looking to take our water," Ricketts told a Nebraska legislative panel in early February, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

• The governor added an exclamation point about the stakes: "There will be no future prosperity (in Nebraska) if we don't manage our water."

Between the lines: The proposal's complicated history and potential legal hurdles are significant, but Nebraska has indicated it is designed as leverage to get Colorado to the negotiating table.

• The list of water projects in Colorado that Nebraska cited as a concern remains preliminary, and leaders here wonder if Ricketts is just confused.

The other side: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has said he's open to talking, but his office told Axios Denver in a statement that he would "continue to aggressively defend our water rights."

• He called the project a "canal to nowhere" and a "boondoggle" that is "unlikely to ever be built."

By the numbers: For now, Nebraska is entitled to up to 120 cubic feet per second of water from April to Oct. 15.

• The canal would allow the state to divert an additional 500 cfs the other half of the year — an amount it's already receiving, according to reports.
• Nebraska could use eminent domain or buy land for the project.

The backstory: This idea isn't new, the Omaha World-Herald reports, and in fact it began in 1891 but ran into cost constraints. The remnants are still visible near the Colorado border town of Julesburg.

• A second effort to restart the project was derailed in the 1980s.

This story first appeared in the Axios Denver newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard. Subscribe here.