Lakes, Ponds & Streams

Surface Water Lakes, Ponds & Streams

Lakes, Ponds & Streams

Water quality protection practices properly implemented on the landscape can reduce or eliminate overland runoff water. Pollutants associated with that runoff water will enter lakes, ponds and streams.

Nebraska Water Facts

Nebraska means “flat water” from the Omaha Sioux “ni braska” and Oto “ni brathge”/ Nebraskier describing the Platte River. The Platte River was named by early French explorers, also meaning “flat.” The Panhandle is almost 6.5 times higher elevation than the Southeast. (5,424 ft above sea level versus 840 ft). Southeast NE receives 2.5 times as much annual precipitation as the Panhandle (average 33” versus 13”).

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Major Nebraska Rivers and Their Drainages: Part 1

Niobrara River
This new series by Nebraska Extension Educator Gary Stone highlights the main rivers in Nebraska and their impacts across the Midwest and Northern Plains. Part 1 of a six-part series that will cover the major rivers and their respective drainages found in Nebraska, with some geography and history about Nebraska’s rivers.

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The North Platte River — Multi-use Water, Part 2: The North Platte Project – Pathfinder, Guernsey and Whalen

Pathfinder dam, reservoir, and new spillway ogee weir.
When the Reclamation Act passed by Congress in 1902 and the United States Reclamation Service was created, studies were conducted to determine where water projects could be constructed. Initially, the Sweetwater River (Sweetwater Project) was considered to construct a dam at “Devils Gate” to provide irrigation water. However, insufficient flows in the river did not justify the construction of a dam. The Reclamation Service then determined that a dam would be constructed on the North Platte River in the Fremont Canyon approximately 47 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming.

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The North Platte River — Multi-use Water, Part 1: The North Platte River Basin Projects — Background

Snow pack in the mountains of Wyoming. (Photo by Gary Stone)
The Platte River, then the North Platte River, and then the Sweetwater River were the series of water courses across Nebraska into Wyoming east of the continental divide for a pathway across the country that “followed the water.” This was the most traveled route across the continent for early trappers — the California, Mormon, Oregon, Overland and Pony Express trails. Over 400,000 people followed these trails to California, Oregon and Washington, bypassing the “Great American Desert”, not knowing that in the future — with irrigation water development — this area would be the breadbasket for the country.

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Fall Turnover: A Physical Look at Lakes

In most of Nebraska, deep lakes will tend to stratify or form layers, especially during summer. This happens because the density of water changes as its temperature changes. During the summer, a temperature difference is established between the upper water and lower water in a lake. The upper layer of water, called the epilimnion, is warm.  This layer is about as deep as the sun can penetrate.  The deep layer of water, called the hypoliminion is made of cooler water.

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