LOWER LOUP NRD AWARDED GRANT FOR IRRIGATION PROGRAM
Irrigators in the Lower Loup Natural Resources District will have the opportunity to receive cost-share for flow meters as part of a new “Irrigation Monitoring Program” funded through a three-year, $150,000 grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. The Environmental Trust Board announced funding for the project at its meeting on April 1, 2010 in Lincoln.
The LLNRD will receive $60,000 in the first year of award with a potential for second and third year funding totaling $150,000. Funds from the Trust will be used to cost-share flow meters for irrigators in order to increase understanding of groundwater irrigation occurring in the District. A flow meter, depending on model, costs around $1,500. The NRD would match the Trust funds with District funds to purchase flow meters to a maximum of $1,500 per approved site.
Installation of purchased flow meters would be paid for by the cooperating landowners. The LLNRD would also use received Trust funds to assist with the purchasing for pressure transducers and data loggers for deployment at 10% of the cost-shared flow meter sites.
Pressure transducers would be used to determine the long-term impact of pumping on the water level in each of the well casings. Data loggers would be used to further clarify exact irrigation amounts throughout the season.
The District has certified 1,211,158 acres in active irrigation from the use of 9,789 high capacity wells. There is limited information available regarding the total amounts of irrigation taking place across the District. Data is needed on a variety of factors that affect irrigation amounts.
Since January 1, 2008, the LLNRD has been in a ground and surface water moratorium and has certified nearly all the irrigated acres. The LLNRD is one of the lead agencies involved in the Elkhorn Loup Modeling (ELM) Project. The ELM project heavily relies on irrigation pumping figures and having accurate, spatially diverse data is absolutely imperative to ensuring the accuracy and replicability of the numerical groundwater model. Better information on the amount of water withdrawn from the aquifer used in combination with changes in static water levels will provide the LLNRD Board of Directors and other management entities with a key piece of information when developing groundwater management policy.
The project is one of the 88 projects receiving $14,970,328 in grant awards from the Nebraska Environmental Trust this year. The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Environmental Trust in 1992. Using revenue from the Nebraska Lottery, the Trust has provided over $157 million in grants to 1,231 projects across the state.
Anyone – citizens, organizations, communities, farmers and businesses – can apply for funding to protect habitat, improve water quality and establish recycling programs in Nebraska. The Nebraska Environmental Trust works to preserve, protect and restore our natural resources for future generations.
