South Platte NRD Board of Directors Discuss Final Draft Amendments and Release Spring Reports

The public hearing on the amendments to the Districtwide Ground Water Management Area Rules and Regulations will be held Monday, May 13, 2024, at 5:00 p.m., at the SPNRD Office, 551 Parkland Drive, Sidney, Nebraska. Prior to the hearing, an information session will begin at 3:30 p.m. "The final draft has been submitted for review and comment to the proper state agencies which includes the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, and the Nebraska Games and Parks Commission," said Galen Wittrock, SPNRD Manager. All interested people will have an opportunity to present testimony or provide other evidence relevant to the issues being considered.

For the final draft amendments to the Districtwide Ground Water Management Area Rules and Regulations and/or the Notice of Public Hearing visit http://www.spnrd.org. Questions about the proposed amendments should be directed to Ryan Reisdorff, [email protected] or Galen Wittrock, [email protected], both can be reached at (308) 254-2377.

Chris Kaiser, SPNRD Natural Resources Conservationist, summarized the results of the Spring 2024 ground water level measurement program. "After experiencing three years (2020-2022) of drought conditions, 2023 was a change of pace as we had a brutal winter followed by an extremely wet spring," said Kaiser. "Rainfall was 4.11 inches higher than average and districtwide, water levels increased .90 feet on average based on 196 well measurements."

Ryan Reisdorff, SPNRD Assistant Manager, followed with the Spring 2024 report on Active Flowing Segments of the 172.84-mile stretch of Lodgepole Creek in the SPNRD. Lodgepole Creek had a total of 120 miles or 69% of the creek flowing in Nebraska this spring. "This improved by 25 miles from last year," said Reisdorff. "Spring 2020 was the wettest with 135 miles and Spring 2015 was the driest with only 88 miles." The table provides information for 2020 through 2024.