GRAND ISLAND, Nebraska – The Central Platte Natural Resources District’s Water Utilization and Water Quality committees will discuss the proposed updates to the NRD’s Ground Water Management Plan at their July meeting as presented by Jim Schneider, Olsson Engineering of Lincoln, at the May Board meeting. Olsson has incorporated new data and insight acquired since the approval of the plan in 1985, including hydrogeologic, climate and socio-economic data of the groundwater resources. Over the last 37 years, the NRD’s rules and regulations have changed significantly, and groundwater management goals have evolved to satisfy requirements of CPNRD’s Integrated Management Plan, the Upper Platte River Basin Plan and the Platte River Recovery Implementation Plan.

Plan triggers, data sets and maps, and data from the 2022 Cooperative Hydrology Study model (COHYST) to predict 50-year simulations have been added. The water quality portion of the plan was not changed. simulations. The water quality portion of the plan was not changed. The committees will review the following proposed changes:

• Allow subdistricts to be subdivided based on level of development and hydrology.

• New phase triggers to reflect percentages of maximum acceptable declines.

• Add management regulations to require meters and allocation to address groundwater decline instead of reducing irrigated acres.

Central Platte NRD’s Board of Directors meeting will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, 2022, at the Central Platte NRD office located at 215 Kaufman Avenue in Grand Island, Nebraska.

AGENDA/ACTION ITEMS

-Nebraska GeoCloud Project   The board will consider extending an Interlocal Cooperative Agreement to continue the project through 2027 in the amount of $12,000. The annual project collects airborne geomagnetic imagery with the intention to correlate that data with sub-surface geology and hydrogeology.  Central Platte NRD has been a partner since 2016 when the project was initiated as a joint effort with the following NRDs: Lewis & Clark, Lower Elkhorn, Lower Platte North, Lower Platte South, Nemaha, Papio-Missouri River, Lower Loup, Upper Elkhorn, and Twin Platte. Other partners include USGS, Aqua Geo Frameworks, and the University of Nebraska’s Conservation and Survey Division. 

-Manager’s Report  Lyndon Vogt, General Manager, will report to the board. 

-Draft Budget  The Budget Committee will review the proposed Fiscal 2023 budget. The board will act to approve the 2023 Fiscal budget of expenditures to hold a public hearing on the same day as the July board meeting. The levy will be set at the August board meeting to be held September 1st to accommodate the advertising requirements as the valuations are not available from the counties until August 20th.

-Groundwater Levels  The spring 2022 static groundwater level results along with a comparison of groundwater levels in 1982 will be presented. The 1982 levels were established as the standard for the NRD’s Groundwater Management Plan with maximum acceptable declines and a margin of safety calculated for each of the District’s 24 Ground Water Management Areas (GWMA). 

-Tree Report  Kelly Cole, Administrative Assistant, will report on the number of trees sold through the NRD Conservation Tree Program and the miles of fabric weed barrier sold in 2022.

-414 & 457 Plans  The board will consider adoption of the 414 and 457 eligible governmental plans for employees through the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts.

-Natural Resources Conservation Service  Joe Krolikowski, District Conservationist, and Jacob Kendrick, Resource Conservationist of Central City, will report.

-Nebraska Association of Resources District  Jim Bendfeldt, CPNRD Representative, will report.

-Nebraska Natural Resources Commission  Mick Reynolds, Middle Platte Basin Representative, will report.

-Cost-Share  Applications through the Nebraska Soil and Water Conservation and the Central Platte NRD cost-share programs will be considered.