In the Loup: The Lower Loup Natural Resources District Uses Science, Partnerships, and Stakeholder Buy-In to Conserve Nebraska’s Precious Natural Resources By Alan J. Bartels
Water Programs Specialist Jason Moudry and Projects Technician Brian Kolar checking a monitoring well in Columbus, Nebraska. The LLNRD is in the process of installing an innovative structure to increase groundwater levels in a specific region of Columbus’s east side.
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n the heart of Nebraska, the Lower Loup Natural Resources District (LLNRD) stretches from the eastern Sandhills north and east past Burwell, Albion, and Petersburg, south to Buffalo County, and east to the Columbus area. The district, headquartered in Ord, stretches 156 miles east to west and 96 miles north to south, making it the largest of Nebraska’s natural resources districts (NRDs). At 7,923 square miles, it occupies more than 10 percent of the land in Nebraska. Along with the LLNRD’s large size come big challenges. The LLNRD’s management sees those as immense opportunities for implementing innovative solutions.
Navigating Uncharted Waters
24 | IRRIGATION LEADER | March 2022
that scenario, local stakeholders, including farmers, residents and some of Columbus’s largest employers, would all lose something. “A better option was to come up with a project to basically just move water around while allowing water users to keep doing what they are doing,” says LLNRD General Manager Russell Callan. As its experts worked on a multiyear study, the LLNRD worked as the lead organization in a unique partnership that also includes the City of Columbus, Platte County, the Christopher’s Cove Homeowners’ Association, and agricultural processor Archer Daniels Midland. Grants from the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources’ Nebraska Water Sustainability Fund and the Bureau of Reclamation’s drought resiliency grant program were secured, and a plan came together. After passing through the Loup Power District’s hydroelectric dam upstream of Columbus, water from the tailrace canal can be intercepted before returning to the Loup River when needed. A pipeline from the tailrace canal relays water to the previously abandoned Lost Creek Channel south of 8th Street. That creek dried up after a successful flood control project routed its flows around the city. Basements stayed dry, but groundwater levels dropped. The new pipeline will recharge the groundwater in that area and fill an adjacent shallow well. When needed, water irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE LLNRD.
While much of the district is blessed with Ogallala Aquifer– fed streams and rising static water levels, a water shortage issue rose to the surface recently toward the eastern end of the district. LLNRD water technicians had noticed that water levels near Columbus had fallen from 2010 to 2014. Irrigation supplies and commercial and municipal wells were being affected. Residents of a sandpit lake development weren’t happy when their aquatic backyard playground grew shallower while their sandy beaches expanded. The NRD could have used its regulatory authority to require the area’s water users to reduce their water usage. In
The development of recreational and park facilities is one component of the mission of Nebraska’s NRDs. Davis Creek Recreation Area, near North Loup, is managed by the LLNRD. The area is popular with anglers and campers.
