January 31, 2018 at 5:00 PM - Water Committee Meeting

Rationale:  The current chairman is Bob Meduna with Dave Saalfeld vice-chairman.  A motion is needed to confirm them for another year or select new ones.

Rationale:  Staff from DNR attended the Water Committee to present and discuss the preliminary changes in the 10/50 lines within the District.  The map attached is only a draft and more modifications will be completed as data becomes available. 
A draft copy of the V-IMP is also attached in which the District can now proceed on this document after the completion of the Lower Platte Basin Management Plan.  Discussion within the plan would be the Acre Feet allotment split between surface and groundwater and how the Board wants to determine the Net Irrigation Requirement.  A rule that I would like the Committee to discuss is the required water use report from industry.   

The plan is to to present a final draft to the stakeholders and the pubic on February 28 after the Water Committee.  A hearing would be conducted in March, with Board approval at April meeting.

  

Rationale:  A draft of the GW Rules and Regulations is attached with more updates.  Items highlighted in yellow were discussed at last month's Committee Meeting with items highlighted in Blue showing new additions.  The plan would be to move this forward jointly with the V-IMP.  
In the draft plan it is proposed to open the SQS areas up to Expansion of Acres from existing wells but no New Wells.  This would not go into affect until December 15, 2018 and only by policy approved by the Board.

Rationale:  Discussion is needed on how to handle a tile system that collects water in a Lift Station and then uses the water for irrigation.   Is this a well or a reuse pit?  If well, spacing requirements?  If adding acres, does it need to go through the variance process? If water is transfer beyond quarter section, a transfer permit is required. Does the NRD need to get a better handle on where and how many tile systems are in the District?

Rationale: 

Wells Permits Approved: #

Landowner	Number of Wells	Number of New Irrigated Acres	Type of Well	County	Subarea
Dale Shanle	1	68	Irrigation	Platte	Middle Shell Creek

 

 

 

 

 

 

The total number of approved permits for 2018 is 1

Location of Approved Well Permits for 2018:  Correct as of 1/31/2018

County	Irrigation - New	Irrigation - Replacement	Stock	Commercial	Municipal	Other	Total
Butler	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Colfax	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dodge	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Boone	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Madison	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Platte	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Saunders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	0	0	0	0	0	1

 

Rationale:  Attached is data collected from the SQS #2 on midsummer drawdowns and water use. 

Rationale:  Board Representative for this Coalition is Bob Hilger and Jim McDermott.  A motion is needed to continue with these Board members or select new representatives.

Rationale: 

The District has been informed that 2-4 inch flow meter for livestock wells have been installed.  The cost share for a 4 inch meter is $386.00.  Staff has been in contact with Mike Malena to complete the paperwork.  Tentative approval for cost-share would be appropriated, if paperwork is completed by the Board Meeeting. 

*****At the June 28, 2017 Water Committee, motion (1) offer cost-share for flow meters to producers within 2 miles of the SQS #2 Boundary with-in LPNNRD and (2)to offer cost-share within the SQS #2 area to convert gallons reading registers to acre-inches. Cost-share for registers conversion will be $225 with producer paying the labor cost. Deadline for invoices will be by March 1.

*****At the November 30, 2016 Water Committee, motion was made to fund GWEL cooperator wells at $1,000 per 8 inch meters ($770 from WSF and $230 from LPNNRD = $1,000) and at $749 per 6 inch meters ($577 from WSF and $172 from LPNNRD = $749)

 

Water Sustainability Fund (WSF)
4 inch meters	2 x 4" meters or 2 x $386 = $772.00
6 inch meters	XX x 6" meters or XX x $577 = $0
WSF Total	$0
	So Running Total WSF Grant = $80,231 of $200,000 grant
	So Remaining Total of WSF Grant = $119,769

 

 

LPNNRD For GWEL Cooperators
8 inch meter	0 x 8" meters or 1 x $230 = $0
6 inch meter	0 x 6" meters or 0 x $172 = $0
Carry over (8 inch meter)	0 x 8" meter or 0 x $230= $0
LPNNRD Total	$0

 

Total For Flow Meter Cost Share Program
WSF & LPNNRD	For approval at September 9, 2017 Board Meeting = $772.00

 ==========================================

 

Rationale:  Some graphs are shown on data collected from the Phase Reports, which staff has been presenting at the Operator Certification Classes.  If you look at the graphs, it is concerning on the percentage of fields that are being over-fertilizes compared to UNL recommendations. 

Five online test requests have been received so far in 2018.  Three of these have passed the test and a certification card was mailed to each.

Cert #	Cert date	Name	Re-cert	Comments
5598	1/10/2018	Phil Vavricek	Yes
7071	1/10/2018	Cole Strong	No	"new"
6116	1/16/2018	Matt Sobota	Yes

 

Rationale:  There were approximately 107 at the 1/30/2018 AEM class at Ag Park (one LPNNRD Director - Terry Sobota). Only 92 of these attendees turned in their sign-in sheet. Some who didn't return their sign-in sheet were from outside LPNNRD.

Class	Date & time	Location	Attendees
# 1	Thursday, January 4th @ 3:30 p.m.                (after Corn Expo)	Fremont - Extension Office	41/0
# 2	Wednesday, January 17th @ 7:00 p.m.         [Dryland focus/emphasis]	ENREC (formerly known as ARDC)	102/15
# 3	Tuesday, January 30th @ 9:30 a.m.   *Special class at 1:00 p.m. AEM	Columbus - Ag Park	26/0
# 4	Tuesday, January 30th @ 1:00 p.m. *Special class on AEM	Columbus - Ag Park	92/11
# 5	Thursday, February 5th @ 1:00 p.m.         [Dryland focus/emphasis]	Butler County Events Center
# 6	Thursday, February 8th @ 9:30 a.m.	Lindsay - Village Office
# 7	Tuesday, February 27th @ 9:30 p.m.	Columbus - Pinnacle Bank
# 8	Wednesday, March 7th @ 9:00 a.m.	Fremont - Extension Office
# 9	Tuesday, March 13th @ 9:30 a.m.	Butler County Events Center
# 10	Tuesday, March 20th @ 7:00 p.m.	ENREC (ARDC)
# 11	Thursday, March 22nd @ 3:00 p.m. *Special class afternoon. AEM	Columbus - Ag Park
# 12	Thursday, March 22nd @ 7:00 p.m.	Columbus - Ag Park

 

 

 

 

Rationale:  2018 is the sixteenth year for the Phase 2 Area.
In 2016 134 reports were received for this Phase 2 Area.  133 2017 reports have been received so far; 39% of these reports were "late."  2017 reports were received from Michael Ebel and Daryl Finecy this week.  Soil sample results were not included with David Nicolas’ corn reports - both David Nicolas and Chris Nicolas have been contacted regarding the lab sample sheets.
 

Rationale:  2018 is the third year of this Phase 3 Area.  This Phase 3 area went into effect September 1, 2015.  The 55 sections of this area first went into a Phase 2 Area in 2004. 
In 2016 409 reports were received for this Phase 3 Area.  383 2017 reports have been received so far; 30% of these reports were "late."  2017 reports were received from Russell Shonka and Dan Zoucha this week.  2017 reports have not been received  from Chris Dvorak, Mark Horesji, and Mark Rickert - all have been contacted regarding their late reports.

Rationale:  2018 is the third year of this Phase 2 Area.  There are 45 registered active irrigation wells in the ten sections of this new area.
In 2016 61 reports were received for this Phase 2 Area.  63 2017 reports have been received so far; 59% of these reports were "late."  2017 reports have not been received from Brian Goff and Mark Horesji - both have been contacted regarding their late reports.

 

Rationale:  The District is down to 2 sites for having livestock flow meter requirement completed in the SQS Areas.  The deadline set by the Board was January 31, 2018.  The 2 individuals/companies are Terry Lutjens and Pillens.  Staff will continue to work on getting these sites metered.  If no progress is made a formal request for a Cease and Desist will be made at the next Water Committee.

Rationale: 

# new wells has been reviewed and approved for decommissioning since the last Committee meeting.

 

Rationale: 

# wells have been plugged, reviewed, and ready for cost share payment approval this month.

Well Owner	Type of Well	Cost Share Estimate	County
Loran Houska	Irrigation	$635.59	Saunders

 

Rationale:  Attached are 2 invoices from ENWRA which is part of the contracts that LPN has agreed too.  The first invoice is the annual dues of $30,000 to ENWRA in which a motion will be needed.
The second one is the first payment of the Grant for the development of the GeoCloud.  Attached is the GeoCloud agreement that was approved by the Board in March 2017.  As the Contract has already been approved by the District no motion will be needed. 

Rationale:  Next meeting is February 22 at LPSNRD starting at 2 pm.  The group wil get an update on the drought predictor spreadsheet and upcoming workshop for stakeholders. 

Rationale:  Map showing the sample results from 2017.

Rationale:  The LPN and UNL will be conducting a couple of Lawn Care Workshop (5 steps to a Beautiful Lawn) in Fremont and Wahoo.  Fremont is March 1 and Wahoo is March 13 with both starting at 6:30 pm.

Rationale:  A report from Tyler and Will is attached from the GMDA Winter Conference in Baton Rouge.  The Summer Conference is scheduled for May 30 to June 1, 2018 in Savannah, GA.