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The Middle Republican Natural Resources District is responsible
for the protection of the natural resources
and assists landowners in planning, funding,
and applying conservation practices.
Water Resources
It is the policy of the Middle Republican NRD
to carry out programs that encourage efficient water use and protect
the quality of ground water. Preserving an adequate supply of clean,
high quality ground water to help sustain the area's economy and
provide for future needs is the primary purpose of the current plan.
Along
these lines, in 1998 a district-wide Ground Water Management Area
(GWMA) for water quantity was established. Previous studies have
indicated that when 3,000 or more irrigation wells are drilled in
the NRD, the capacity to withdraw more ground water than can be
recharged definitely exists. By 2002, over 3,300 wells had been
drilled in the district. Also, the current legal battle between
Kansas and Nebraska has caused a need for NRD's to more accurately
document the amount of water that is actually pumped from our ground
water supply.
To address this concern, the MRNRD:
- Established a flow meter program
- Required well permits
- Adopted new well spacing requirements
- Placed a suspension on the drilling of new wells
pumping more than 50 gallons per minutes
- Established an allocation of 39" over a three year allocation
period
- Adopted an Integrated Management Plan in cooperation with the Nebraska
Department of Natural Resources
In 1992, the NRD established a 450 sq. mile
Special Protection Area in the southern part of the district for
ground water quality. The purpose of this area, now know as the
Ground Water Quality Management Area (GWQMA), has been to reduce
nitrate contamination in our ground water. Today this GWQMA is still
an important part of our operations and nitrate levels have shown
a significant decline.
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