August 31, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Water Committee Meeting
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1. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
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2. REGULATORY
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2.A. GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT AREA
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2.A.1. Voluntary Integrated Water Management Plan - LPNNRD
Rationale:
The annual V-IMP update was presented jointly by NeDNR and LPN. Discussion on the next 5-year allocation, modeling progress and future plans.
Attachments:
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2.A.2. Lower Platte River Consortium
Rationale:
Shown below is an update email sent out by NeDNR on August 29th that highlights the Lower Platte Basin Drought Plan Triggers:
The current summer season’s high demand for both irrigation and domestic water along with hot and dry weather and predicted climatic conditions means that more frequent monitoring of drought conditions is sensible. As of August 29, 2022, at 12am Central Time: the PDSI at Ashland is -2.93 and Platte River mean flow at Ashland is 984 cfs mean discharge According to the Plan, these conditions place the Consortium into "Severe Drought." Plan Drought Triggers
Additional climate conditions can be found at, the LPDC Drought Dashboard: https://gis.ne.gov/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=c0b751c512a24b83a6ad1c3214941ea8. The Plan is available here: https://dnr.nebraska.gov/water-planning/lower-platte-river-basin. Both indicator values for the Plan exceeds a trigger value, so a virtual call between Consortium members may be warranted. Please respond Yes or No to this email if a virtual call will be necessary based on conditions within your jurisdiction. If any Consortium member replies Yes, a virtual call will be held. NeDNR will coordinate and schedule needed virtual calls via Zoom and a calendar invitation for the call will be sent. NeDNR will provide a recording of calls for all members. We anticipate that any scheduled call will have a focused and short discussion on these topics:
**************** The Omaha/Valley National Weather Service Office on Thursday August 25th put out a drought update packet for the region that you may find informative, particularly the historical comparisons and soil moisture information. The Omaha/Valley NWS link: https://www.weather.gov/oax/ OR Direct to the report here: https://www.weather.gov/media/oax/Climate/Drought/drought.pdf |
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2.A.3. Variance Request in the Hydrologically Connected Area (Limited Development Area)
Rationale:
Deadline for applications is September 15.
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2.A.4. Variance Requests in the Non-Hydrologically Connected Area (Normal Development Area)
Rationale:
No applications were submitted for these areas.
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2.A.5. Variance Requests in the Restricted Development Areas
Rationale:
Last year, the LPN had 6 variances that were in the Restricted Area (Red). The legal descriptions of these sites are:
SW Section 1-16-5E (south of Morse Bluffs) 74 acres - scored 302 SE Section 17-15-7E (northwest of Wahoo) 45 acres - scored 252.5 SW Section 29-15-7E (northwest of Wahoo) 45 acres - scored 252.5 NW Section 30-16N-7E (northwest of Wahoo) 45 acres - scored 265 SW Section 28-15N-6E (between Malmo and Weston) 131 acres - scored 296 SE 34-15N-9E (south of Yutan) 68 acres - scored 342.5 Even though applications were scored, the stream depletion factor(which is part of the scoring system) utilizes the adjoining section. All of these applications were ranked with other applications either in the HCA (blue) or NHCA (white) last year, but were not approved.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend deferring these applications in the Restricted Development Areas to a Water Committee Meeting this winter. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.6. Well Interference Complaints
Rationale:
Staff have received complaints about domestic wells running low on water in 3 areas of the District.
Attachments:
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2.A.7. Special Quantity Subareas
Rationale:
Some producers have asked about developing more acres with new wells in SQS 2. UNL/CSD has been studying this area and has shown some extinct hydrogological boundaries, as shown in the attachment. If changes are going to occur in this area, the Board will have to make a decision by December 15.
The Committee will discuss management changes at a potential water retreat in the latter part of November.
Attachments:
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2.A.8. Cost Share Programs
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2.A.8.a. Irrigation Well Sample Kits
Rationale:
325 kits to producers so far in 2022. 280 of these have been returned - eleven of these were in today's mail.
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2.A.8.b. Flow Meter Maintenance Program
Rationale:
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2.A.9. Bellwood Phase 2 Area
Rationale:
2022 is the twentieth year for this Phase 2 Area.
37 sample results have not yet been received from the lab. |
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2.A.10. Richland - Schuyler Phase 3 Area
Rationale:
2022 is the seventh 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. The ten sections that were in Phase 2 are now in Phase 3. As such, the 2020, 2021 and 2022 numbers (at bottom of table) are for 65 sections.
86 sample results have not been received from the lab. |
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2.A.11. Lower Platte River Basin Water Management Plan Coalition (LPRBC)
Rationale:
The technical group met on August 24th to discuss a drought matrix within the coalition. Each NRD will review what they have in place for drought plans and meet again in the first part of October.
Does LPN want to develop a drought plan or discuss what would be involved? The committee and staff discussed what other NRDs have done with drought plans. A lot of drought plans emphasis awareness and education, which LPN is already doing. |
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2.B. CHEMIGATION
Rationale:
For 2022, there are 676 active renewals, 56 active new permits, and 1 active emergency permit application for a current total of 733 total Active Chemigation permits. Inspections for 280 permits have been completed. |
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2.C. GROUND WATER ENERGY LEVELS
Rationale:
LPN, Baywest, LWS and USGS staff conducted summer water level measurements on August 30 in WANN Basin. Attached is LPN water level measurements showing a 2.209 foot average decline.
Attachments:
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2.D. GROUND WATER QUALITY SAMPLING
Rationale:
Encourage you to view the following videos.
Videos on water quality in Nebraska: Greetings from Nebraska WAVES! We are excited to announce the release our latest video in a series regarding water quality in Nebraska. Entitled, "Managing Nebraska's Water Quality for Nonpoint Source Pollution", this short video explores how management differs between surface water (rivers, lakes), groundwater, and drinking water and how agencies and NRDs are involved. Thank you to our colleagues at NDEE, DHHS, CPNRD, and LBBNRD for their assistance with script review, edits, and photos. You can view it at: https://youtu.be/j7ZVc3ldad8 We are also very happy to announce that our video released earlier this year, "Nitrate in Nebraska - The Basics" was the National Winner in the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Communications awards in 2022. The video is part of a broader Nebraska WAVES effort to provide NRD Board Members and other water management leaders with the knowledge needed to make nitrogen management decisions through education about the role of nitrogen in Nebraska, the current state of nitrate in groundwater, the impacts of high nitrate concentrations, and a preview of how Nebraskan’s are addressing nitrate challenges. This is the first of three videos about nitrate in Nebraska released in 2022. You can watch it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9koZIifdIGY Please feel free to use and share these resources and let us know if you do! To view any of our other videos, interactive modules and more, visit: https://nebraskawaves.org/ Many thanks to our partners at NET, NARD, NDEE, NDNR, UNMC and UNL. For more information about how we could assist with use of our materials or a facilitated group session/training with Nebraska WAVES, email me at carla.mccullough@unl.edu. Let me know if you have any feedback or questions, have found this to be useful, or have suggestions for future topics! Regards, Carla Carla McCullough Extension Educator - Watershed Science University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources |
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3. GROUND WATER PROGRAMS
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3.A. DECOMMISSIONED WELL PROGRAM
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3.A.1. Well Estimates
Rationale:
# new wells has been reviewed and approved for decommissioning since the last Committee meeting.
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3.A.2. Plugged Wells
Rationale:
# wells have been plugged, reviewed, and ready for cost share payment approval this month.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend paying Meadowbrook MHC $1,000 for 1 domestic well decommissioning. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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3.B. LOWER PLATTE NORTH NRD GROUND WATER STUDIES
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3.B.1. Cover Crop Project Update
Rationale:
All of the sites in Lower Platte North have been completed.
LPNNRD has been assisting UNL with doing some inter-seeding of cover crops with a Highboy throughout Wahoo and Shell Creek Watersheds. If you are interested in watching and even riding along through the field, here is an upcoming schedule.
The week of September 6-9 there will be more sites in the Wahoo Watershed. An update will be sent out on these locations.
Attachments:
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3.B.2. Long Range Plan
Rationale:
Draft version is attached.
Attachments:
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4. SURFACE WATER PROGRAMS
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4.A. STATE LAKES, FOR THE WEEK OF
Rationale:
No lakes are on the list from LPN District.
This week's beach Bacteria and Harmful Algal Bloom results are now posted on the NDEE web page (Current Health Alerts and Sampling Results For This Week). |
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5. OTHER
Rationale:
Reminder that Fall Conference registration is September 1. Fall Conference will be held Sept 26-28.
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5.A. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
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