Alva Review-Courier -

FURNAS COUNTY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in Nebraska are trying to determine who released 16 million gallons of water by opening a dam on an irrigation channel one night this month — and why.

The puzzling water release from the Cambridge Canal reduced the flow to some 18,000 acres of crops and jeopardized expensive irrigation equipment, according to Brad Edgerton, the general manager of the Frenchman Cambridge Irrigation District that runs the nearly 48-mile-long waterway.

The canal was flowing at its normal rate of 150 cubic feet per second when Edgerton checked on his computer on the night of...