Halligan Remains SPNRD Chair as District Opens New Year

On Tuesday Jan. 8 the South Platte Natural Resources District (SPNRD) Board of Directors (Board) held its monthly meeting at 5 p.m. at the South Platte NRD Conference Room in Sidney.

The Board of Directors voted to retain the same officers for 2019 as they had in 2018. Chairman will remain Bill Halligan, and Timothy Maas vice-chairman. Secretary will remain James (Jim) Johnson and Rod Horn will continue as treasurer. Halligan represents Subdistrict 1, Maas represents Subdistrict 3, Johnson represents Subdistrict 2, and Horn is the General Manager at the SPNRD.

Tim Gokie with the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources presented information on the Oliver Reservoir Recreation Area issues to include water levels at the reservoir. The Oliver Reservoir Dam is considered a high hazard dam, and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources regulates the construction, operation, and maintenance of dams in Nebraska to protect life and property from dam failures. Gokie reported that water levels in Oliver Reservoir have certain levels that they can, and that they cannot reach during normal operation to maintain the functionality of the dam for safety purposes. He explained how the dam and the spillway work in times of high waters and flooding, and the importance of the functionality of the dam.

Currently, the SPNRD is working with a contractor to make repairs to the dam’s spillway conduit, as age and water damage has created some leakage that could jeopardize the integrity of the dam structure. The repairs that are being made and the management of the water levels of the reservoir will help ensure that all safety measures needed to maintain a safe structure are met.

Chris Kaiser, SPNRD natural resources coordinator, gave the Annual 2018 Ground Water Quality Monitoring Program Report for the District.  There are 181 network monitoring wells spread along the length of the Lodgepole Creek and the South Platte River Valley. Of those, 163 were sampled at least once during the past year. There are 61 monitoring wells established on the tablelands that are not considered in the network. There are two concerns from this past year; one being that the Sidney Ground Water Management Subarea stayed above the 9.5 parts per million trigger for a second consecutive year, and the other is that the nitrate levels have steadily been rising along the Lodgepole Creek Valley subareas in Kimball and Cheyenne Counties and in the South Platte Valley in Deuel County.  The Deuel County East Lodgepole Valley Ground Water Management Subarea has been decreasing over time.  If the Sidney Ground Water Management Subarea stays high for a third year, the subarea may enter Phase III for management. The subarea is currently in Phase II.  This year is the first year that the South Platte Valley Ground Water Management Subarea has been over the 80% MCL trigger.  The 2018 Water Quality Report can be found on the SPNRD webpage (http://www.spnrd.org/Html/resources_reports.html).

For questions or more information contact the South Platte NRD at 308-254-2377 or visit them online at http://www.spnrd.org. SPNRD Board of Director Meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month.