Farmers oppose small lakes for recharge project
By Lori Potter, The Kearney Hub
Farmers along Sand Creek in southeast Kearney County say a proposed groundwater recharge project could ruin their property values.
"The large dam they are proposing would literally be in our back yard," farmer Jenny George said.
Tri-Basin Natural Resources District officials are considering the recharge project and heard farmers' concerns at the NRD board's meeting on Tuesday.
Tri-Basin Natural Resources District officials are considering the recharge project and heard farmers' concerns at the NRD board's meeting on Tuesday.
The concerns were raised even though ideas to reverse groundwater declines in May Township won't be outlined until a landowner meeting at 7 p.m. next Tuesday in the 4-H Building on the Kearney County Fairgrounds in Minden.
Landowners in areas that could be affected are being notified by letter.
At Tuesday's meeting, Tri-Basin General Manager John Thorburn told the Hub the idea is to use one or more small reservoirs of 60-600 acres each to provide groundwater recharge from seepage. Three sites are being considered and landowners' feedback will help the directors decide if they want to investigate any site.
Thorburn said the concern is a decline in the aquifer's saturated thickness in Kearney County's part of the Little Blue Basin. He explained that the Ogallala formation runs out there, so the aquifer is thinner than in other parts of the NRD and more difficult to recharge naturally.
Farmer Dan Bridges said the reservoirs would adversely affect all the farmland he and his mother own, and isolate his house. "It (Sand Creek) does have more water coming down it than people realize," he said, citing several examples of flooding.
"There's a lot of people that will be affected if this thing comes through," George said, adding that meeting the goal to raise groundwater levels could cause flooding at planting time in parts of her community.
Both farm owners said they're concerned that any reservoir would result in severe declines in their property values or even make the land useless to farm or pass on to future generations.
"It certainly is not the NRD's intent to flood anybody out without compensation ... this is just simply a proposal," Thorburn said.
"I don't mean to offend you sir," George replied, "but to some of us, money isn't everything."
Later at the board meeting, Thorburn showed slides illustrating changes in groundwater levels throughout the district - Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties, and parts of the Republican, Platte and Little Blue basins - from 2003-2009 and how they compare to a 1981-1985 baseline.
Thorburn said the information comes from twice-a-year measurements on 91 irrigation wells tested since the 1970s, 107 dedicated wells (at least one per township) with continuous data loggers, 160 wells measured by Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, and data from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The slides will be posted on the district's Web site at www.tribasinnrd.com.
The major concerns are groundwater depletions in southern Gosper and southeast Kearney counties.
Thorburn used line graphs to reflect groundwater responses to the shift in weather patterns shifting from dry to wet years. A steep upward angle reflects groundwater recharge in many areas. He said the shallow angle on the May Township graph indicates it will take years to recover the depletions.
Thorburn used line graphs to reflect groundwater responses to the shift in weather patterns shifting from dry to wet years. A steep upward angle reflects groundwater recharge in many areas. He said the shallow angle on the May Township graph indicates it will take years to recover the depletions.
"We know we have a thin aquifer that is susceptible to being drawn down," Thorburn said.
Also related to water supplies, CNPPID Irrigation Division Manager Dave Ford reported that Lake McConaughy now holds 1,138,000 acre-feet of water and is 65 percent full. It's nearly 14 feet higher and holds 295,000 a-f more water than at this time last year.
Snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, which is the primary source of Platte Basin water, is around 80 percent of normal, Ford said, "but now is the time of year for heavy wet snows."
He said Central officials began filling Elwood Reservoir in mid February with gravity flows and pumps were activated on March 1. Ford expects pumping to continue until the reservoir is full, around June 1, and ready for irrigation season.
A key interest for Tri-Basin officials is that a full Elwood Reservoir produces important groundwater recharge benefits for the Platte and Republican basins.
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