July 30, 2026 at 9:30 AM - Water Committee Meeting

Rationale:  The deadline is September 15.

Rationale:  The deadline is August 15.

Rationale:  Weston Loseke has applied for a Supplemental Well Permit for the SE SE 33-19N-2W, Platte County.  The location is NW of Platte Center.  Information on location, test hole and current water level graph is attached along with comments from Grosh Irrigation below.  

From: Silver Creek Office <silvercreek@groschirrigation.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2026 8:33 AM
To: Daryl Andersen <dandersen@lpnnrd.org>
Subject: Scott Loseke test hole

I am working on the permit but its been a mad house around here and looks like I forgot to email this also but here it is. Spencer estimates it to pump between 700-900GPM. Let me know if you have any questions. I will get the permit sent to Scott hopefully today!


JeniLynn Storm
Office Manager
Grosch Irrigation Co., Inc.
3110 33rd Road - PO Box 337
Silver Creek, NE 68663
308-773-2261- Office
silvercreek@groschirrigation.com

Discussion:

The committee reviewed the provided information, including the historical water levels, and agreed that the location seems suitable for a supplemental well. 
 

Rationale:  A draft well interference complaint form and policy document has been prepared. The well interference complaint form has been updated to request GPS coordinates of the well(s) and provide the complainant an overview of the actions the NRD will take in response. Staff is requesting comments and feedback on these documents so they can progress to being approved for use. 

Discussion: 

Several recommendations were made for the interference complaint form that will be actioned before the next committee meeting, including: 

• Adding fields for water levels
• Logging communication with the involved parties
• Adding an area for additional wells suspected of intereference

The procedures were also reviewed, and the section on resolution of complaints will be reviewed in the next committee meeting. Feedback included:
 

• Expand the communication methods to include email or phone intially, and only send a certified letter as a last resort. 
• Make clear what is the complainants expense, and not the NRDs, such as hiring a well inspector or hydrogeologist. 

 

Rationale:  RO (Reverse Osmosis) — cost share is 75% up to $800 with assistance of $70 for registering the domestic well.  

Dean Novak has two sites eligible for RO. Results were 8.17 ppm & 14.3 ppm. One of his domestic wells is not registered. 
Jeff Anderson has applied for 1 site that is eligible for RO with his site testing over 10 ppm.  Jeff's well is not a registered domestic well and the cost for registering a domestic well has risen to $240.

Attachment is the current application and qualifications.  

Flow Meters

Galen Kehrli - 1 Flow Meter - $1,000

Discussion on applying for a grant for updating drop nozzles on pivots.  

Discussion:

The committee felt that the RO cost share should be increased to $1,000, but that the cost of registration should be the responsibility of the property owner. Registration will still be required to qualify for cost share. 

 

Rationale:  Discussion on individuals or firms wanting data from the NRD.

Currently, we have a request from a student here who is working with Dr. Debra Perrone from University of California, Santa Barbara on rules and regulation, shape files and orders issued.
The NRD gets requests from realtors, engineering firms, county assessors or patrons from the district.

In the past, the NRD has provided the information that has been requested.

Discussion:

The committee was concerned about how staff time in managing and replying to these requests, and suggested possibly charging for staff time. Additionally, the committee would like to investigate the implications of LB1096, which permits the restriction of public data sharing about critical infrastructure, such as water.

 

Rationale: 

Less than 10 renewal inspections left. 

Rationale: 

• 80% of our Statewide Network Wells have been sampled. Contaminants sampled for are: nitrates, pesticides, sodium, iron, magnesium, and uranium. 
• All of Todd Valley is currently being sampled to assist with management decisions in the future. 
• District-Wide maps of all sampling events will be provided to the board this winter. 

Rationale:  FY25–26 we had 11 water well abandonments that received cost share payment.  

Rationale: 

# new wells has been reviewed and approved for decommissioning since the last Committee meeting.

Rationale: 

# wells have been plugged, reviewed, and ready for cost share payment approval this month.

Well Owner	Type of Well	Cost Share Estimate	County

 

Rationale:  For the past 3 years, the NRD has been doing demonstrations with producers on utilizing precision nitrogen applications through the Sentinel Company.  This year, the pumps were furnished to Ethan Cuda and Travis Klug with fields in the Schuyler-Richland Nitrogen Management Area.  The NRD purchased a couple of variable rate pumps three years ago and assist the producer in paying for the first year of satellite imagery.  The producer and Sentinel provide the NRD information on the field at the end of the year on nitrogen reduction.  
Attached is this invoice from Sentinel for $1,716.  They have raised their rates from previous years.  

Rationale:  Preliminary data for the SQS2 area, including water level measurements and flow meter data, were provided to Dr. Jesse Korus for review. The data will require additional cleaning up to train a potential AI model in the future. Additionally, if model development is pursued, existing GIS data and models developed by LRE/Spheros would be helpful. 

The current proposed scope would be to train an AI model using extensive data from the SQS2 area, and roll the model out district wide by subarea over the course of one year. A graphical user interface (GUI) for modifying model parameters and visualizing data would be delivered at the end of the project.

If the committee would like to move forward, staff would like to proceed with Request for Qualifications (RFQs) and Request for Proposals (RFPs). 

Discussion:

Before progressing to RFQs and RFPs, the committee would like staff to provide addional information and clarity on:

• Specific examples and scope of what the model will do
• AI Inputs
• AI Outputs
• How the end product will be used
• Value of the data

Rationale:  Water Committee Source Water Protection

Increased interest in communities wanting to update their Wellhead Protection Plans have caused some questions to arise in how the NRD will participate in helping communities protect their drinking water. We currently conduct water sampling in these areas and help with preparing the plan by conducting contaminant source inventory. I am looking for guidance from the committee on what else we should do to help communities within our district.

Committee discussed topics below. No further actions were taken.

Projected Communities to update in the next 1-2 years:

• Yutan- Meeting with City Council on August 17^th with DWEE
• Mead- Met with earlier and they are currently working on an aquifer analysis with DWEE
• Cedar Bluffs- will need updated after construction of new well
• North Bend- will need updated after construction of new well

Cost-Share Ideas:
Ttem at potential well siting assessment locations. 

Monitoring wells: Cost-share with monitoring wells that can be used by both the district and the community for water quality and quantity while improving our monitoring network to both collect more data and strengthen modeling accuracy.

Water Sampling: More expensive sampling (13 Parameter) to give us more quality data as well as showing communities what is around their WHPA

Vadose Zone Sampling: Getting an idea of what is moving through the soil profile will help in making sure a site for the community is reasonable. It will also give us an idea of areas of concern as contaminants flow through the soil profile.

 

Rationale:  This is the cost for half of a year, which will expire June 30th of 2027. At the present time this will be in FY26-27 budget. 

Rationale:  Attached is USGS quarterly invoice per contract for stream gages on Shell Creek and Wahoo Creek for $4,334.

Rationale:  Two staff members attended the Groundwater Management District Association conference in Lubbock, TX from July 21-23. Topics included information on using data for decision-making, case studies on data center water usage, rainwater harvesting, remote sensing, and water issues specific to Texas. Based on information from the conference, staff members will be investigating topics that may be applicable to the LPNNRD, such as using remote sensing for evapotranspiration rates and crop inventories, programs that could be pursued with Nebraska Extension, and acoustic water level monitoring instruments.