June 1, 2016 at 5:00 PM - Water Committee Meeting
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1. REGULATORY
Rationale:
fore score and seven
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1.A. GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT AREA
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1.A.1. Variance Request in the Hydrologically Connected Area (Limited Development Area)
Rationale:
The District received one expanded water use variance application for 70 acres in the Middle Shell Creek subarea. The District has a total of 98 applications for 6,067.61 acres. |
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1.A.2. Variance Requests in the Non-Hydrologically Connected Area (Normal Development Area)
Rationale:
No new updates.
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1.A.3. Variance Requests in the Restricted Development Areas
Rationale:
The District received one expanded water use application for 34 acres in the Prague subarea. This field is adjacent to the Todd Valley subarea.
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1.A.4. Well Permit Program
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1.A.4.a. Well Permits Approved
Rationale:
No new permits were approved since the last Committee meeting.
Location of Approved Well Permits for 2016: Correct as of 6/1/2016
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1.A.4.b. Jeffery Temme Well Permit Application
Rationale:
Jeffery Temme has applied for a new supplemental well in the NE 1/4, NE 1/4, Section 14, T22N, R6W, Boone County, Upper Newman Grove Subarea. The new well will irrigate 156 acres that are currently being watered with well G-087266 (see attached map for a total of 212 acres). Well G-087266 will continue to irrigate 56 acres in the N 1/2, SE 1/4 of the same section. Attached is a map of the field in question, the well log for G-087266, and a copy of the application. The committee reviewed the application and test hole well log.
Recommended Motion(s):
*To approve the new supplement well in NE 1/4, NE 1/4, Section 14, T22N, R6W, Boone County, Upper Newman Grove Subarea for Jeffery Temme Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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1.A.5. Special Quantity Subareas
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1.A.5.a. Butler - Saunders SQS (SQS #1)
Rationale:
There are 30 irrigation wells in this SQS -- water level has been measured in 28 of these wells. 25 of these have a flow meter; the other five wells were not used in 2015. |
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1.A.5.b. Platte - Colfax SQS (SQS #2)
Rationale:
Three informational classes for this area were held and some of these attendees were at more than one class. Most of the attendees neglected to bring their well registration number(s) to the class so cross-referencing for the correct operator for each well has taken longer. A landowner - tenant request sheet was mailed to those individuals for which no clear connection was made. Permission sheets, for measurement of their water level, have been received for about 125 wells. Landowner - tenant request sheets and permission sheets continue to be received in the mail.
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1.A.5.c. SQS Flow Meter Maintenance Program
Rationale:
McCrometer Great Plains was asked to attend, but due to other commitments they won't be able to attend until the next Water Committee meeting. Committee members discussed the number of wells that should have flow meters already installed and suggested that these wells should have higher priority on the meter maintenance schedule. After the committee meeting staff pulled up information on wells that were issued well permits from May 2008 to the present, when flow meters were required to be installed. The number in SQS #1 is 7 and in SQS #2 is 46 (see attached sheets). From October 1, 2005 to May 8, 2008 the LPNNRD required on all well permits for high capacity wells that a flow meter or time totalizer be installed. Therefore the number of wells with flow meters in both SQS areas could be higher.
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1.A.5.d. Schure Flow Meter Installation Question
Rationale:
John Schure contacted the District regarding his flow meter installation. The meter is installed at the pivot point, but the well is also used to irrigate 5 acres with gated pipe in the SW 1/4 of the field. The irrigation pipe that feeds the gravity system connects to the discharge 3' from the well. Mr. Schure would rather not purchase a second meter for the 5 acres so he has asked the Board to provide him with an alternative option. Below is a list of possible solutions created by the staff. 1) Assume that 9 or 12 inches of water is pumped anually on the 5 acres. (12" is the hard cap LPSNRD has given to gravity fields in their district.) 2) Take the acre inches pumped under the pivot and double that number for the gravity acres. (possibly cap at a certain level) 3) Take the acre inches pumped under the pivot and add on an extra 15% of that number due to the inefficiency of gravity irrigation. 4) Not allow the water to be provided to the gravity system without first passing through the flow meter. (This would require re-working the delivery system at the well and at the pivot). See attachments of field map and pictures taken at the well site. The disadvantage of options 1, 2, and 3 is that additional calculations would be required to track actual water use and take these into account for readings from the flow totalizer on the meter. After review of the information and pictures it was felt by Committee Members that option 4 was preferred since the well pump could be turned and the piping system rearranged so all water pumped could flow through the meter.
Recommended Motion(s):
*To require that all irrigation water pumped from well G-045714 located in the SW1/4, SW1/4, Section 7, T19N, R1W, Middle Shell Creek subarea and in the Platte-Colfax SQS area, must flow through an LPNNRD approved flow meter Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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1.A.6. Lower Platte River Basin Water Management Plan Coalition (LPRBC)
Rationale:
The latest information from the LPRBC is that the listed water demand at the Louisville gauge has nearly doubled. This was due to an error in previous water accounting by DNR and may mean the basin is closer to being declared fully appropriated. Notes from the May 4, 2016 technical committee meeting are attached. See related projects to the basin listed below under 'Special Studies'.
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1.A.7. Voluntary Integrated Water Management Plan - LENRD and LPNNRD
Rationale:
After recent review with DNR, attached are the Goals, Objectives, and Action Items for LPN V-IMP. Annual meetings are required between DNR and LPNNRD personnel to track progress on this V-IMP. Also attached are the final recommendations by the Stakeholders Comm. Committee Members reviewed each action items and changes are outlined on the attached document. Steps for approval of LPNNRD V-IMP - Water Comm. and Board approval of Goals, Objectives, and Action Items (G,O,AI of V-IMP) - Submit to Olsson Assoc. and DNR revised G,O,AI of V-IMP as well as edited Plan. - Review and final comments by Stakeholders Comm. - Review and approval of Water Comm. and Board of entire V-IMP - Submit to DNR for their final review - Hold public hearings and final approval of V-IMP
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1.A.8. Cost Share Programs
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1.A.8.a. Irrigation Well Sample Kits
Rationale:
No new update.
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1.A.8.b. Domestic Well Sample Kits
Rationale:
No new update.
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1.A.8.c. Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Network (NAWMN)
Rationale:
Eight producers have ordered equipment for 2016 in our NAWMN program (see attached spreadsheet). The ordered equipment was picked up by Aaron Nygren (Colfax County Extension Educator) last Friday and he will get the orders to producers. Lindsay CO-OP is working with eight other producers in the Shell Creek area for additional orders, but this will not be part of our program.
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1.A.9. Bellwood Phase 2 Area
Rationale:
2016 is the fourteenth year for this Phase 2 Area. This area was reduced from 32 sections to 21 sections in 2015. The Phase 2 information will be mailed to producers during June.
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1.A.10. Richland - Schuyler Phase 2 Area
Rationale:
On September 1, 2015, the ten sections immediately north of the Phase 3 area became a Phase 2 Area. Staff collected eight water samples from irrigation wells in these sections in 2015. The nitrate results ranged from 6.00 to 20.7 ppm.
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1.A.11. Richland - Schuyler Phase 3 Area
Rationale:
2016 is the first year of this Phase 3 Area, since this area went into effect September 1, 2015. The 55 sections of this area initially was a Phase 2 Management Area, which started in 2004.
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1.A.12. LPNNRD Certification
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1.A.12.a. LPNNRD Operator Certification
Rationale:
No on-line test requests have been received since the last committee meeting and no on-line tests were completed in May. |
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1.A.13. Certifying Acres in Saunders and Dodge Counties
Rationale:
Chris Poole says he has 133 acre certifications that have not been returned by today's (June 1, 2016) deadline. Staff recommendation is to issue cease and desist orders against further irrigation at the June 13, 2016 Board meeting to take affect on June 17, 2016. See attached spreadsheet for names of landowners and parcels.
Recommended Motion(s):
To issue cease & desist orders to landowners to not allow the application of irrigation water on tracts in Saunders County who have not fully completed and returned their acre certification paperwork by June 17, 2016 Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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1.B. CHEMIGATION
Rationale:
For 2016 we have received 464 renewals and 24 new permit applications for a current total of 488. June 1st is the deadline for renewal chemigation permits. At the end of last year we had a total of 515 permits.
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1.C. LIVESTOCK WASTE PERMITS
Rationale:
The LPNNRD has received one livestock permit applications from DEQ since the last Water Committee meeting.
Lindhorst Livestock is looking to expand on a existing operation of 800 head (320 A.U.) of finish swine to a total of 2,400 head (960 A.U.). |
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2. GROUND WATER PROGRAMS
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2.A. DECOMMISSIONED WELL PROGRAM
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2.A.1. Well Estimates
Rationale:
Two new wells has been reviewed and approved by Gottschalk for decommissioning since the last Committee meeting.
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2.A.2. Plugged Wells
Rationale:
No wells have been plugged, reviewed, or ready for cost share payment approval this month.
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2.B. LOWER PLATTE NORTH NRD GROUND WATER STUDIES
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2.B.1. Elkhorn Loup Model (ELM)
Rationale:
No new update.
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2.B.2. Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment (ENWRA)
Rationale:
Still waiting on contract from DNR for the AEM flights in both the SQS areas. They hope to fly these areas mid to late summer of this year. Spacing between flight lines is expected to be a half mile over each of the SQS areas. The helicopter company requires a 30% payment before they fly to pay some of their equipment and personnel costs. This would mean this 30% payment would have to come from FY2015-2016, but we do have money available in this fiscal year's budget. A motion will be needed at the Board meeting to approve payment not to exceed $125,000 for this fiscal year FY15-16 (or 30% of the total grant request of $416,666 for the Lower Platte North NRD Aquifer Framework Mapping 2016) upon receiving an invoice from the grant Consultant.
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2.B.3. Platte Elkhorn Integrated Water Monitoring
Rationale:
Previously the board has approved participating with Papio NRD to look at the relationship between surface and groundwater aquifers between the Platte and Elkhorn Rivers. Attached is the Interlocal Cooperative Agreement between Papio NRD and LPNNRD to formalize our previous agreement. AS you can read in the agreement most of the funding was obtained from the WSF for a two year study and LPNNRD portion is $10,700 per year. This was initially approved in December 2015. This study is related to the LPRBC and the ability to convey water from the upper part of the basin to the lower portion.
Recommended Motion(s):
To approve the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement between Papio NRD and Lower Platte North NRD for the Platte and Elkhorn River Valley Integrated Water Momitoring project Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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2.B.4. Lower Platte River Drought Contingency Plan
Rationale:
LPN, LPS, and Papio NRD's as well as the Cities of Omaha and Lincoln, representatives from DNR, LPRCA, and consulting firms of HDR and TFG met on May 12, 2016 to discuss the Lower Platte River Drought Contingency Plan. LPSNRD is proposing to submit a grant request to the WSF in July to study the ability of the Platte River to conduct water from the middle portions of the basin to the lower portion. Two funding scenarios are being looked at (see attached sheet) but both scenarios would total $400,000. Scenario #1 would require $8,000 from each partner, while scenario #2 would require $14,812 from each.
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2.C. NEW MONITORING WELLS
Rationale:
Downey Well drilling will likely start drilling our three new monitoring wells within the next two weeks. The sites selected are west of Fremont, but just east of the Fremont cutoff ditch. This area has a bedrock high and one of the wells here will be installed into this bedrock with estimated depth of 300 feet. The second shallower well will be installed in the upper aquifer that is fairly thin and will be about only 25 feet deep. The second site is near Malmo and this well will be installed into the Dakota with estimated depth of 500 feet. ========================================================= Two Level Troll data loggers purchased in 2015 from In-Situ have both had sensor failure. Both were under warranty and replacement loggers have been received. Two other older loggers (one from 2006, other from 2007, both sent in for evaluation) are unrepairable due to their older style circuit boards. One replacement logger has been purchased and the second one has been ordered. We have six more loggers in operation that were purchased in 2006 or 2007 and may need replacing.
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2.D. FORMER ORDNANCE PLANT NEAR MEAD
Rationale:
The latest public availability meeting and tour was held on May 18, 2016 starting at 4:30 p.m. The latest sampling efforts looked at the Omadi Formation of the Dakota bedrock for TCE and RDX. Three sites were sampled and were found to have concentrations of both TCE and RDX at much deeper depths than previously reported. See attached NOP Fact Sheet. When the C.O.E. drilled and sampled these wells Katie Cameron of ENWRA also sampled these wells at different depths for general water quality such as conductivity, ions, etc. While the general water quality looks encouraging several other parameters should be tested, such as arsenic and selenium which are naturally occurring.
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3. SURFACE WATER PROGRAMS
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3.A. PRECIPITATION GAUGING NETWORK
Rationale:
We only have four cooperators left in the LPN Precipitation Gauging Network and three of those are in the Prague to Weston area. I feel it is time to end this program and incorporate it into the NeRain program. NeRain has ~19 sites in our District and with sites from the High Plains Regional Climate Center I feel we still have adequate coverage. A letter was sent to each cooperator informing them that we could transfer them to the NeRain program if they are interested. The PGN summary for 2015 is attached and from this data, it was a wet year for our District. These four cooperators reported an average of 38.9 inches for LPNNRD. The drought map, drought forecast map, and the High Plains Regional Climate Center (HPRCC) map summary for 2015 are attached.
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3.B. STATE LAKES, FOR THE WEEK OF
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3.B.1. Bacteria Sampling
Rationale:
Week of May 23rd, 2016 This week's lake beach bacteria and toxic algae results are now posted on the NDEQ web page (http://deq.ne.gov). Most lakes look to be in great shape for the big holiday weekend. However, continued spring rains and the associated runoff is leaving us with six lakes this week that are exceeding the E. coli criteria. Most of the microcystin levels are below detection levels with the exception of a few lakes. Pawnee Lake in Lancaster County looks to be shaping up early to be a hot spot for microcystin this summer. Bacteria SIX LAKES tested high for E. coli bacteria this week. E. coli levels measured above 235 colonies/100 ml of sample are considered a higher risk for illness when swimming. Considering the more rapid changes in bacteria conditions, signs are not posted with these higher levels although DEQ want people to be aware and use their own judgment on their use. Lakes with High E. coli Bacteria Levels
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3.B.2. Toxic Algae
Rationale:
Week of May 23rd, 2016 This week's lake beach bacteria and toxic algae results are now posted on the NDEQ web page (http://deq.ne.gov). Toxic Algae NO LAKES will be on “Health Alert” this week. It is DEQ policy that any lake that has microcystin levels over the established criterion of 20 ppb will be placed on “Health Alert” Status until such time that it has tested below 20 ppb for two continuous weeks. If a lake is under a Health Alert, signs will be posted recommending people avoid full body contact activities such as swimming, wading, skiing, jet skiing, etc. Non-contact activities such as boating, fishing, and camping are OK.
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3.C. USGS WATER QUALITY MONITORING ON SHELL CREEK
Rationale:
Attached is the latest funding agreement with USGS on continued water quality monitoring on Shell Creek through April 1, 2017. From the last page the agreement from March 31, 2016 to March 31, 2017 estimated payment is $16,600.
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4. OTHER
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4.A. LPNNRD MASTER DATABASE
Rationale:
Staff have met several times this last month with Phoenix Group on the Master Database and other projects such as telemetry for our data loggers and rural water systems. The current database works well but staff recommended some modifications.
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4.B. LPNNRD WATER PROGRAMS BUDGET FY16-17
Rationale:
See attached sheet for potential test holes and monitoring well sites. Also attached is an estimated budget for FY16-17. Current and future Water Staff focus is:
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4.C. GMDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Rationale:
The next GMDA conference will be held in Yakima WA on June 29th to July 1, 2016. Because this overlaps with the June 29, 2016 Water Committee meeting it was the opinion of the Committee Members to move the meeting to Monday June 27, 2016 to start at the usual time of 5:00 p.m. |
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4.D. 2014 SUMMER INTERNS
Rationale:
The three summer interns took the Natural Resources Ground Water Technician [NRGWT] training class and test yesterday (May 31, 2016) at the new office of UBBNRD in York. Test results should be available in 7 – 10 days. |
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4.E. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
Rationale:
Board chairman John Hannah, LPN staff members Cassi Deerson and Desirae TePoel, and Nathan Rossman of HDR were also present at the Water Committee meeting. The Water Committee adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
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