September 27, 2023 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 District reviewed 49 applications totaling 569.74 acre feet of new depletion, and 3520 acres. Attached is the ranking sheet for these applications.
The Board can approve up to 200 acre feet of new depletion per year.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend approving all variances shown on attachment that had a ranking scored 393 or higher for 190.73 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 Restricted Development Areas
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2.A.3. Well Permit Program
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2.A.4. Well Permit Kevin Indra
Rationale:
Kevin Indra applied for a Well Permit classified as Other (Wildlife/Wetlands) for the NW SW S13-17N-5E, Saunders County. He plans on utilizing the well normally in October for waterfowl and only when necessary.
Attached are the well permit and maps of the location.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend approving the well permit for Kevin Indra for the NW SW S13-17N-5E, Saunders County Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.5. Well Permit Classification
Rationale:
Jeff Temme applied for a replacement well permit for G-064047 on the NW NE S23-22N-6W, Boone County on May 18, 2023. NRD staff approved the permit and the well was drilled. Part of the process is that Jeff is required to abandon the old well to classify it as a replacement well. Jeff would like to keep the old well as a livestock well and put in a submersible pump that would pump about 20 GPM. The NRD would change his permit from a replacement well to a new well with no increase in irrigated acres. The new well would receive a new DNR well number if the well permit is classified as a new well.
Recommended Motion(s):
Recommend allowing Jeff Temme to change his well permit from replacement to new well for NW NE S23-22N-6W, Boone County and keep the existing well as a livestock well. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Attachments:
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2.A.6. Special Quantity Subareas
Rationale:
Staff met with Jesse Korus- UNL CSD and Lower Elkhorn (LE) staff to discuss the data available for SQS #2 and the area north of the line. Jesse commented on the study he had been working on showing the unconfining and confining layers, that the pumping wells to the north would not have much influence on what is happening within the LPN District. LE completed a similar study with LRE on geological assessment that LPN has just completed. It was discussed that LPN and LE GIS personnel would complete some maps showing both sides of the NRD lines utilizing the current data. Discussion on allocations and confining layers and does it help during the pumping season, as groundwater pressure in some areas comes back to previous levels yearly.
Attached is some information from graduate students and Jesse Korus. The first attachment is a map and description of some of the areas in the SQS 2 areas, with the other attachment attachment the complete study conducted by these individuals. Also shown is a presentation given by Jesse at the Committee meeting in March of 2022.
Attachments:
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2.A.7. Cost Share Programs
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2.A.7.a. Irrigation Well Sample Kits
Rationale:
337 kits to producers so far in 2023. 318 of these have been returned.
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2.A.7.b. Flow Meter Maintenance Program
Rationale:
The flow meter maintenance contract will expire in the spring of 2024. Attached is a letter that will be sent out to individuals and firms that might have an interest in doing flow meter maintenance within LPNNRD. Staff will be sending the letter out in the first part of October with Committee reviewing at the next Committee Meeting with Board Approval in November. The firm selected will not start until fall/winter 2024-25. The District does maintenance on about 300 - 350 meters a year at this time.
The Committee had no changes to the letter and staff will proceed with sending it out in October.
Attachments:
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2.A.8. Bellwood Phase 2 Area
Rationale:
2023 is the twenty-first year for this Phase 2 Area.
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2.A.9. Richland - Schuyler Phase 3 Area
Rationale:
2023 is the eighth 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.
Five more samples from this area have been returned - these are at HHS lab. |
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2.A.10. LPNNRD Operator Certification
Rationale:
Attached is the list of producers that have been identified as active producers but have let their LPNNRD certification expire. NRD staff has offered a couple of options during the summer, which a couple of producers in attendance to get into compliance. This list is only for individuals that attended a certification class in the past but does not include individuals that have never attended.
Discussion points.
Attachments:
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2.B. CHEMIGATION
Rationale:
no updates for chemications, same 5 left to do after harvest |
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2.C. GROUND WATER ENERGY LEVELS
Rationale:
Attached is information on summer water levels in WANN Basin.
Attachments:
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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:
1 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:
An invoice is attached from LRE for $4,872.13 for Hydrological Assessment per contract.
The staff would like some clarification on Phase 4 water quality rules: Rule 1 - Levels of nitrate exceed 15.01 ppm for nitrates or other non-point source containments. Rule 2 - Continuation of Phase One, Two and Three Rules. Consideration of the reporting deadline so soil samples are taken into consideration in the same crop year. A 2 part reporting process or one deadline of March 15. -- Discussion at the committee meeting on why it is important to receive information prior to the upcoming crop year. Rule 3 - Split application of commercial nitrogen is required with 80 pounds maximum applied before May 1. Rule 4 - Nitrogen application must not exceed District Recommendations. -- Discussion at the Committee meeting on how this was calculated on LPN reports. Rule 5 - Flow meters are required on all high capacity wells Rule 6 - A rolling acre-inch allocation, in 3-year increments, will be put into place by the District and will be based on the aquifer subarea, crop planted, irrigation distribution system, percent decline of the aquifer, water use of the aquifer, climatic conditions, net corn crop requirements, and discretionary factors. Rule 7 - NRD staff will work directly with individuals on Best Management Practices.
Attachments:
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3.B.2. Phoenix Database
Rationale:
An invoice from Phoenix Web Group for $8,635 is attached for the second part of the payment per contract approved in June 2023. This was an update to the NRD database.
The staff made a presentation at the Committee on the new updates and how it will streamline some of the entries when the producer is entering the data online.
Attachments:
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3.B.3. Lower Platte River Consortium
Rationale:
The next meeting will be held October 17 at MUD Platte River West. This meeting will discuss options to consider new or removal of existing projects..
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3.C. MONITORING WELLS EQUIPMENT
Rationale:
Staff has been installing In-Situ equipment for a few of the wells within the District. An invoice from In-Situ is attached for $83,225.95, which the Board approved a quote at the July Board meeting for $91,901.45. There might be other costs in the future as NRD staff keeps repairing the cables.
Discussion at the committee meeting showed the issue with the splices in the cable and the need to fix them correctly before other issues arise. A representative from In-Situ was present to answer questions and staff showed the website where the data is displayed.
Attachments:
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4. Groundwater Retreat
Rationale:
A groundwater retreat is being planned for the water committee and any other board member for Wednesday, November 29 from 2:30 to 5:30 pm, Water Committee meeting will start at 6 pm.
Tentative Agenda Item:
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5. SURFACE WATER PROGRAMS
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5.A. STATE LAKES, FOR THE WEEK OF
Rationale:
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).
There will be 1 beach on Health Alert this week. Willow Creek Reservoir in Pierce County remains on Health Alert. While Glenn Cunningham Lake in Douglas County will be removed from Health Alert. When a lake exceeds 8 ppb of microcystin it will be placed on Health Alert.
We have 0 beaches with E.coli testing above 235 colonies/100 ml.
Have a great weekend! Justin Haas State Lakes Coordinator Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy P.O. Box 98922 245 Fallbrook Blvd., Suite 100 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-8922 Direct: 402-471-4224 | Main office: 402-471-2186 http://dee.ne.gov | Twitter | Facebook |
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6. OTHER
Rationale:
GMDA winter conference is January 23-25, 2024 in Nashville.
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6.A. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
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