John Winkler, Papio–Missouri River Natural Resources District
Omaha, Nebraska, and surrounding countryside.
T
he Papio–Missouri River Natural Resources District (NRD) in Omaha, Nebraska, is one of the 23 NRDs in Nebraska whose mission is to manage the soil, water, wildlife and forest resources within their boundaries. As an essential business, the Papio–Missouri River NRD has had to find new ways to operate during the COVID‑19 pandemic. In this interview, General Manager John Winkler tells Irrigation Leader about the challenges the NRD has had to face and how it has adapted its operations to this challenging situation. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about yourself and about your NRD.
54 | IRRIGATION LEADER | JUNE 2020 - COVID-19 SPECIAL ISSUE
Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID‑19 pandemic affected your operations? John Winkler: We still have a number of employees at the office and in the field. That is because we’ve got several rural water systems that people rely on to provide drinking water to their homes and businesses. Our staff needs to remain on duty to fix any potential main breaks and resolve metering problems. We also have hundreds of miles of levees and several dam structures that need to be operated and maintained. We do have a few employees working remotely, however. Those employees either have underlying health conditions or immune deficiencies or they have school-aged children who are at home because schools and daycares are closed. We’ve been flexible with our employees. Some have used vacation time to work from home just because they weren’t IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM
PHOTO COURTESY OF RON REIRING.
John Winkler: I am the general manager of the Papio– Missouri River NRD. I’ve worked for the NRD for about 13½ years. Our NRD is a bit different from the rest of Nebraska’s NRDs due to the fact that we have the state’s largest metropolitan area, the city of Omaha, within our boundaries. We’ve got to deal with more urban issues than other parts of the state. In addition, our part of the state receives quite a bit more rainfall than the western part of the state, so flood control is a huge issue. This is especially true
because we are surrounded by three major rivers: the Platte River to the south, the Elkhorn River to the west, and the Missouri River to the east. We have 52 regular, full-time employees. During the summer months, we have a number of seasonal maintenance folks, bringing our total to around 60.
