Central Platte NRD’s Successful Groundwater Management Program
Research on crop nitrogen needs is demonstrated at a field day.
L
ike many irrigated farming areas across the United States, the Central Platte Natural Resources District (NRD) faced problems with nitrate pollution in its groundwater. With the district’s shallow water table and widespread use of flood irrigation, fertilizer was leaching into the groundwater at levels that were detrimental to human health. Through education and regulation, Central Platte NRD has successfully turned the corner, and nitrate levels are now decreasing. In this interview, Central Platte NRD General Manager Lyndon Vogt tells Irrigation Leader about how his NRD managed to address the nitrate issue and provides his advice for other groundwater managers facing similar issues. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about Central Platte NRD.
18 | IRRIGATION LEADER
Irrigation Leader: Why did Central Platte establish a groundwater management plan back in the 1980s? Lyndon Vogt: We established the management plan because of high nitrate levels in the groundwater. Comparing the levels that we were recording back then to records from the late 1950s and early 1960s, we saw that nitrate levels were continually rising. That drove us to put together a groundwater management plan.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CENTRAL PLATTE NRD.
Lyndon Vogt: I grew up on a farm and ranch in northcentral Nebraska and have an agribusiness degree. I’ve been an employee of Nebraska’s NRD system for 24 years. I started out as the water resources manager at Lower Niobrara NRD in Butte and was then promoted to the manager. I then transferred to Upper Niobrara White NRD in Chadron, where I was manager for 12 years. In spring 2013, I transferred to the Central Platte NRD in Grand Island.
Lyndon Vogt: Back in the late 1960s, legislation was introduced in Nebraska to combine approximately 154 special interest groups dealing with natural resources issues into one set of natural resources districts. In 1972, 24 NRDs were created (since then, two have merged), with their boundaries determined by watershed boundaries. The NRDs have taxing authority and handle 12 responsibilities laid out in the legislation, ranging from groundwater management to flood control to erosion issues and solid waste. The NRDs are governed by locally elected boards, the members of which serve 4-year terms. Central Platte NRD covers about 2.1 million acres, of which 1,029,213 are irrigated. Only 14,000 of those acres are strictly surface water irrigated. Another 77,000 acres have access to both surface water and groundwater. The remainder is irrigated by groundwater only. We have roughly 18,000 active irrigation wells in our district and 22,000 high-capacity wells in total.
