Watersheds

Everyone lives in a watershed. A watershed is the land area that contributes water to a location, usually a stream, pond, lake or river. Everything that we do on the surface of our watershed impacts the water quality of our streams, wetlands, ponds, lakes and rivers. What happens in one locality affects other downstream areas.

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Major Nebraska Rivers and Their Drainages: Part 1

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.

Friday, April 7, 2023

Water for Food Conference to Address Water and Food Security in a Changing World

This year's conference will focus on innovative ways to improve water and food security by increasing farmers’ resiliency to a changing landscape.

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Impact of Irrigation Technologies on Water Use: Clarifying Water Withdrawals and Consumptive Use

A new Nebraska Extension NebGuide clarifies the concept of consumptive use of water with regard to irrigated crop production and provides guidelines for determining the efficiency of new irrigation technology.

Friday, January 6, 2023

Reverse Osmosis In-Service: Treating high nitrate concentrations in private wells

In 2023, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB1014. This bill took 4 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act and allocated it to treating nitrate issues in Nebraska. 1.2 million dollars of that has been dedicated to a Reverse Osmosis Rebate Program that is directed at private well owners. The general idea of the program is that any individual private drinking water well owner can test their water AND if the nitrate concentration comes back above 10 ppm, they might be eligible for UP TO $4,000 support to get a reverse osmosis system to treat their nitrate.

Monday, December 5, 2022

Crop Residue Removal: Its Effect on Soil and Water Quality

raking cornstalk residue. photo credit: Leslie Johnson

Some crop growers have always removed crop residue for animal feed and bedding. Crop residue removal should be done in such a way that it benefits the grower without negatively impacting the health and productivity of the soil as well as the environment.