September 28, 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. Variance Request in the Hydrologically Connected Area (Limited Development Area)
Rationale:
The deadline for applications was September 15. The NRD received 27 new applications and 10 carry-overs from 2021 for a total of 37 applications. Total acres were 2105.14 for a total consumption of 345.769 AF (acre feet) of groundwater. The NRD GW Rules and Regulations allows 200 AF of water per year for new irrigated acres.
The staff have attached the variance list. . Committee and staff discussed the variances and the drought situation. Staff pointed out that the majority of the variances are in the better aquifers within the District.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend approving the HCA variance applications shown on the sheet that had a ranking score above 355, for a total of 196.131 Acre Feet of depletion. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.2. Variance Requests in the Non-Hydrologically Connected Area (Normal Development Area)
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2.A.3. Variance Requests in the Restricted Development Areas
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2.A.4. Well Permit Program
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2.A.4.a. Scott Sukstorf Well Permit Application
Rationale:
Scott Sukstorf has applied for a new well in the NE1/4 of S3-T16N-R7E, Saunders County, Todd Valley Subarea. He currently irrigates approximately 180 acres under two pivots off of well G-071465 and would like a second well for easier management of the system. If approved, the new well will irrigate 60 acres but will be tied together with the existing well in the event of well failure.
Attached is a map of the system.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend to approve the well permit for Scott Sukstorf for the NE1/4 of S3-T16N-R7E, Saunders County with no increased irrigated acres. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.4.b. Norman Kavan Jr Well Permit Application
Rationale:
Norman Kavan Jr has applied for a new well in the S 1/2 of S31-T16N-R8E, Saunders County, Todd Valley Subarea. They currently irrigate 178.3 acres under two pivots off of well G-052570 and would like a second well for easier management of the system. If approved, the new well will irrigate 40 acres but will be tied together with the existing well in the event of well failure.
Attached is a map of the system.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend to approve the well permit for Norman Kavan Jr for the S1/2 of S31-T16N-R8E, Saunders County with no increased irrigated acres. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.4.c. Supplemental Irrigation Well
Rationale:
Paul Thorson representing Todd Valley Farms (Kim and Wayne Thorson) is requesting a new irrigation well for NW SE S26-15N-8E. The property already has 71 certified irrigated acres from G-062082. Paul would like to keep the existing well to irrigate about 5 acres in the corner that the pivot does not reach. He would continue using an irrigation gun from the existing well. He does not plan on increasing irrigated acres and will be contacting the Village of Mead, as this falls within the Village Wellhead Protection Area.
Attachments.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend to approve the well permit for Kim and Wayne Thorson for NW of the SE1/4 of S26-T15N-R8E, Saunders County with no increased irrigated acres and the condition that the permit is approved by the Village of Mead. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.4.d. Well Permits Approved
Rationale:
Wells Permits Approved: #
The total number of approved permits for 2022 is #
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2.A.5. Lower Platte Basin Modeling Project
Rationale:
The group of LPS, Papio, NeDNR and LPN met to discuss the progress. Attached is a draft inter-local agreement for all agencies that Papio NRD has completed. If the WSF grant is approved for the modeling project in December, the project could start in January. The plan is to complete the model in the 2024-25 calendar year time frame.
An education component is planned for all parties to learn MODFlow. Each agency will identify staff to attend, so when the model is complete, the potential is to run some basic modeling efforts. Legal Council reviewed, with changes from the group shown in the updated inter-local agreement (attached). NeDNR left 7.01.2 as is, where it reads "all decisions shall be made by unanimous consensus of the Collective Parties". NeDNR consensus is required on any decision they will disburse money for (contractor hiring and/or model creation/design decisions).
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend to approve the inter-local agreement for Board Chairman signature after legal counsel review. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.6. Bellwood Phase 2 Area
Rationale:
2022 is the twentieth year for this Phase 2 Area.
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2.A.7. Richland - Schuyler Phase 3 Area
Rationale:
2021 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.
14 water samples for this area have been received in the past week; some of these are at the lab and some ( this week) will be taken to the lab. Three sample kits are outstanding. |
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2.B. GROUND WATER QUALITY SAMPLING
Rationale:
2022 results from state network wells
The nitrate range was from 0 - 18.7 ppm.
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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.
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3.B. LOWER PLATTE NORTH NRD GROUND WATER STUDIES
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3.B.1. Phase Area Update
Rationale:
Staff is planning a couple of meetings with producers to assist in submitting their reports online. The plan is for November 21 or 22 and December 14 or 15.
Attached is a letter to request the phase area data to update UNL dashboard on nitrogen efficiency. LPN had given data to this group prior to 2015 for analysis. In 2015, UNL lost funding and personnel to continue this process. They would like to obtain LPN data from 2016 - 2021 and then give a presentation to the Committee/Board this winter.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend to allow staff to send phase area data from 2016 - 21 to update UNL dashboard. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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3.B.2. Lower Platte River Consortium
Rationale:
The first interlocal has expired and the group would like to extend the agreement. The group meets at least annually and virtually monthly during the summer, discussing drought situations.
Below is some information from the interlocal. No money is outlined in the agreement unless a specific project is brought forward. Each Board then would have to approve the project. 3.01 The Parties hereby create the Lower Platte River Consortium ("Consortium"). The Consortium shall be governed by the terms of this Agreement and the Drought Plan. The Consortium shall carry out the purposes as set forth in Section 5 of this Agreement. The Consortium shall be responsible for the administrative, technical, and financial affairs of the Consortium and the Drought Plan. The Consortium shall not be considered a joint entity separate and distinct from the respective Parties to this Agreement, but rather a collaborative working arrangement of the Parties.
4.01 The duration of this Agreement shall be for a period of one (1) year from the execution date of this Agreement by the last Party. This Agreement may be extended for successive one (1) year terms by the mutual agreement of all Parties hereto. The Parties may only extend this Agreement for ten (10) additional terms.
6.01 The Consortium will be financed by the Parties as needed for certain projects or activities the Consortium decides to pursue. Some years the Consortium will not have a budget because projects will not be pursued in that fiscal year. In years when the Consortium decides to pursue projects or activities, an annual budget will be adopted as described in other portions of Section 6 of this Agreement. Proportions of payments by each Party will be determined at the time the annual budget is adopted.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend to extend the inter-local agreement of the Consortium for 1 year. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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3.B.3. Cover Crop Project Update
Rationale:
Attached are a few of the fields that cover crops were planted by a HiBoy in August and September. One producer will be installing soil moisture sensors over the winter to evaluate soil moisture uptake from cover crops.
Link below shows an excellent video that Lacey put together about the project. Copy the link into a web browser to view. https://youtu.be/Zg_AqTAwAh0
Attachments:
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3.B.4. Long Range Plan
Rationale:
Attached is draft 2 of the Long-Range Plan.
Attachments:
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3.B.5. Soil Moisture Sensors
Rationale:
The graph attached shows a field using Field Climate Soil Moisture Sensors. Staff read the flow meter on this field and the producers put on 4.5722 acres-inches of water.
Attachments:
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3.C. NEW MONITORING WELLS
Rationale:
Dvorak Well Drilling drilled the monitoring well on September 23. An invoice received on 10/4/2022 is attached for $12,360, per quote approved at the October 2021 Board Meeting.
Motion is needed to pay the invoice. |
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4. SURFACE WATER PROGRAMS
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4.A. STATE LAKES, FOR THE WEEK OF
Rationale:
Fremont Lake No 10 (SRA) is on the list for E-coli for the week of September 23. Go to the NDEE website for a complete list of lakes on the Health Alerts.
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5. OTHER
Rationale:
GMDA Winter conference will be held January 23-26 at Simons Island, Georgia.
Attachments:
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5.A. Land Applications
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5.B. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
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