September 3, 2026 at 9:30 AM - Water Committee Meeting

Rationale:  There is one variance for consideration in the non-hydrologically connected area:

• Sandra Muhle- N1/2, NW1/4, 17-18N-1E in Platte County. New well variance. Well would be located approximately 300ft south of SQS2 area and 1.5 miles east of hydrologically connected area. Variance scored 397.74 with our ranking system. 

Rationale:  There are two applications for consideration in the restricted development area:

• Eric Nelson- SW1/4 SE1/4, 3-15N-8E, Saunders County, new irrigation well variance. The well will be located roughly 1,300ft north of the border between the restricted development area (red) and the hydrologically connected area (blue). Variance scored 420.52 with our ranking system.  Newer technology utilizing Ttem can assist in determining the best location where water bearing material is located. 
• Randy Rasmussen- E1/2 of NE1/4, 21-16N-8E, Saunders County, well variance to move a pivot and expand acres. Application was for 20 acres, but will likely be closer to 15 acres. The well will remain in its current position. The well is located roughly 2,700ft east of the border between the restricted development area and the hydrologically connected area. Variance scored 433.54 with our ranking system. 

Committee Discussion

• Eric Nelson- The field location and variance scoring seem to make this variance suitable for approval. It was recommended that if this proceeds to a well permit that potentially allowing a tTEM survey with one test hole could be substituted for the requirement to have three test holes. 
• Randy Rasmussen- the field location and map were closely evaluated due to several nearby homesteads. The scoring is quite high, and water quantity appears to be sufficient for an expansion of acres.  

Rationale:  There is a replacement well being put in for Sports Rev LLC/Bill Ekeler (T17N-R7E-S2) for a duck pond. Since this is a 4-inch submersible well, the McCrometer MF104 flow meter is being proposed to meet meter requirements. The flow meter reads in acre-feet, has an overrun bearing, but does not have anti-reverse. 
The Committee felt this was OK as this was a smaller pipe size. 

Rationale:  Mr. James Matejka informed LPNNRD staff that he was experiencing well interference. Mr Matejka was provided with the draft well interference complaint form on 8/7/2026 and encouraged to complete this form and attend the next Water Committee meeting. If present, Mr. Matejka is invited to share his concerns with the committee. 

Rationale:  A draft well interference complaint form and protocol document has been prepared. The well interference complaint form has been updated with information on locating well information on the DWEE website, how to include information on additional suspected interfering wells, and a communication log.   

The protocol document has also been updated to position the LPNNRD as a data collection agency and to make it clear that contractor scheduling and fees are the responsibility of the complainant.

Staff is requesting comments and feedback on these documents so they can progress to being approved for use. 

The committee and staff reviewed the documents and, with minor recommended changes, the committee felt they were acceptable to move to the full Board. 

Committee Discussion 

The water committee is pleased with the changes to the interference form and had no further recommendations for changes. 

For the protocol, the committee had minor corrections to steps 3.1 and 3.5, which have now been resolved. The committee supports approval of these documents. 

Rationale:  LRE Water is working on the SQS area reevaluation study to determine if the SQS boundaries could and should be revised. An invoice per contract for $5,367.25 is attached for review.

Rationale:  CHEMIGATION EQUIPMENT - Motion Needed 
Jay Jedlicka - $500
Randy Kassmeier - $500

RO Discussion 

•  To receive cost-share for an RO system, the domestic well owner must register their well and also pay the $240 state fee. I believe this should be voluntary and not a requirement. Is this condition accomplishing something necessary for the purpose of this program? 
• Well registration protects groundwater-management interests, including helping address well interference and disputes. The RO program is intended to protect domestic well owners from poor drinking water quality and health risks. Those are two different objectives, and registration should not necessarily be a prerequisite for RO assistance. 
• Thoughts on changing this requirement to voluntary? Motion would be needed. 

The water committee feels that in light of the withdrawn cost-share applications due to the well registration fee, the cost-share amounts should be further adjusted to remove any barriers. Because this is an important issue relevant to public health, the committee would like to increase the cost-share of RO units to cover 75% of the cost, up to $1,200 as well as cover the $240 domestic well registration fee. Keeping the two amounts separate will improve marketing for the program, since many homeowners were shocked by the registration fee requirement.

In light of the cost-share changes, the committee also discussed and supported increasing the cost share amounts for Julie Bideaux and Dean Novak to match the new amounts. The two cost shares for RO units will be postponed until next month as dollar amounts were not set prior to the meeting.  

RO UNITS - Motion Needed 
Julie Bideaux - 1 RO Unit - $1,000 ($1,331.92 with changes & registration fee) 
Dean Novak - 2 RO Units - $2,000 ($2,400 with changes)

Rationale:  LPNNRD staff has prepared a grant application for the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET). This grant application proposes a 3-year, $500,000 cost-share program (60% NET / 30% NRD / 10% producer) to convert high-pressure irrigation systems to low-pressure, convert gravity systems to center pivots, and provide cost-share for flowmeters. As part of the grant, all grower applications will require a flowmeter to be in place to help quantify efficiency gains, which will be cost-shared if they don't already have one. The request to NET specifically is $300,000 total ($100,000/year for three years), with the NRD contributing $150,000 over three years and producers contributing $50,000 over three years to round out the $500,000 total project cost.

Rationale:  Dues for FY2027 are requested from the Lower Platte Basin Water Management Plan Coalition in the amount of $10,000. 

Rationale:  AtN at Mead will be installing a 2–3 tower pivot on site to pump lagoon water onto some grass that they will be planting.  DWEE has been notified and commented that this is part of the cleanup process.  They will be utilizing some groundwater from an existing well to flush the pivot after using the lagoon water.  
After the Committee Meeting, Walt Welzenbach from the Engineering firm ERM reached out to staff and reported that they will be utilizing G-136421 registered as a Commercial/Industrial well for the cleanup of this site.  

Map is attached.
 

Rationale: 

For 2026 we have 4 renewals and 0 new permit applications for a current total of 4 remaining inspections to complete.

Rationale:  Staff participated in the Wann Basin sampling day on 8/25/2026 and sampled 58 wells in partnership with the USGS, Lincoln Water System, and ECC. Results show that the water level declined an average of 1.03 ft compared to summer 2025. 

Rationale:  Staff has sampled 51/53 statewide network wells. 

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:  The LPNNRD has an estimated $40,000 remaining in the WSF Grant, which provides 60% cost share. This would result in the LPNNRD contributing roughly $26,000 towards a project. Staff would like to use this money to purchase vadose zone sampling equipment. This equipment would initially be used to conduct a study in the SQS area to compare to 2020 sample results and verify that best management practices (BMPs) that have been implemented are working as intended. This equipment would then be available to use for future studies throughout the district. 

The Lower Platte South NRD recently received quotes from several manufacturers, and shared their quotes with the LPNNRD. These quotes, as well as several pictures, are attached for consideration and discussion. 

To move forward, the LPNNRD would need to ask the WSF commission for a grant scope change to use the funds for vadose zone sampling equipment and studies. The NRD will continue to cost share on the remaining flow meters. 

Staff has attached an explanation of what is being requested from the Commission on the WSF grant.    

Rationale:  In the previous water committee, the committee asked staff to provide additional information on the inputs, outputs, and value of an AI model before progressing to RFQs and RFPs. 

Suggested Scope and Uses of AI Model:

• Estimate potential water use given climatic conditions
• Effects of current/future irrigation demand on groundwater levels
• Effects of adding one or more wells, particularly on well interference
• GUI/dashboard for the board and public

 Suggested inputs:

• Weather network data (precip, temp, ET)
• Monitoring well transducer records
• Spring/Fall water level measurements
• Flow meter readings
• Well construction/registration records
• Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) resistivity survey
  data
• Soil physical properties
• Land use, cover, slope
• Actual evapotranspiration

Suggested outputs:

• Groundwater-level response to pumping/recharge changes
• Streamflow response to pumping/recharge changes
• "Optimal" district-wide pumping/recharge balance
• Potential water use given climatic conditions (dry/wet year demand forecast)
• Effect of adding one or more new wells / well interference
• Interactive GUI to tweak parameters (dry/wet year, more/less pumping)
• Public/board-facing visual dashboard

Value of the AI Model:

• Utilization of existing data (weather, monitoring wells, AEM, etc...)- $20,000 annually
• Routine analysis (permits, scenarios, allocations)- $15,000 annually
• Risk mitigation(litigation)- $5,000 annually
• TOTAL- $40,000 anually

Rationale:  The LPNNRD and DWEE met with the Yutan City Council on August 18th to discuss their interest in pursuing an update to their Wellhead Protection Plan. It was not brought to a vote. However, they are very interested in moving forward once the DWEE groundwater model has been completed later this year.

Rationale:  This week's beach HAB and bacteria results are now posted on the DWEE web page (Current Health Alerts and Sampling Results For This Week). 
  
Rockford Lake will be on Health Alert this week. Cub Creek Lake will be removed from Health Alert!  

Maple Creek Recreation Area Lake has tested high for E. coli this week.
 
There is 1 beach on Health Alert this week!
 

Current Lakes on "Health Alert"
Lake	County	Microcystin (ppb)	Sample Date
Rockford Lake	Gage	8.13	8/24/2026

When a lake exceeds 8 ppb of microcystin it will be placed on Health Alert. If a lake is under a Health Alert, signs will be posted recommending people avoid full body contact activities such as swimming, wading, skiing, jet skiing, etc. 
There is 1 beach with E.coli testing above 235 colonies/100 ml.

Lakes with High E.coli Bacteria
Lake	County	E.coli (MPN)	Sample Date
Maple Creek Recreation Area Lake	Colfax	1,986	8/24/2026