Water News Archive

Crops including grasses, legumes or forbs used for seasonal cover and other conservation purposes. SARE Publications 2007, Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 3rd Edition. Beltsville, MD: Sustainable Agriculture Network, 244 pgs. $19 for book; PDF version available.

The University of Nebraska's Bureau of Business Research conducted a study in 2003 to determine the impact of irrigated agriculture on Nebraska 's economy. The net total economic impact was computed by comparing impacts with irrigation to what would have resulted without irrigation. The research examined actual 2003 impacts and what would have occurred if average precipitation had occurred. For normal precipitation the total impact of irrigation would have been just over $3.6 billion per year. Since 2003 was a drought year, the actual economic impact was more than $4.5 billion.

The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), established through the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) Amendments of 1972 (later amended and known collectively as the Clean Water Act), regulates water quality by requiring a permit for point source pollution discharges to waters of the United States.

Some areas in Nebraska are not appropriate for a conventional septic tank/drainfield system or a residential lagoon. We consider these environmentally vulnerable areas.

2024 Nutrient Management Record Keeping Order Form. Calendars will be distributed in December. If you want a copy of the current year's calendar, please request one by calling Leslie Johnson at 402-584-3818.

Lagoon size is determined by the number of bedrooms, as well as the annual evaporation and precipitation rates for the geographic region. The lagoon size is NOT based on the square footage of the house, or the number of people living in the house because occupancy can change.

Another major factor in irrigation scheduling is making use of precipitation, both during the growing season and in the off season. Shown below is a map detailing the average net irrigation requirement for corn for the State of Nebraska. The net irrigation requirement is based on precipitation patterns and soils. In wet years less water is needed and in dry years more water will be needed.

In many parts of Nebraska, the natural quality of groundwater is suitable for both humans and ecosystems. However, in some areas the groundwater quality has been impacted by high levels of nitrate from human activities, or naturally high levels of uranium or arsenic. These groundwater quality issues can cause significant challenges for communities, in part because of the cost of treating groundwater to reduce contaminants to meet drinking water standards.

Problems sometimes occur. Some of the problems that occur include: sluggish drainage, contaminated drinking water, wastewater surfacing in the yard, odors, and pipes freezing.

Advantages to furrow irrigation include lower initial investment of equipment and lower pumping costs per acre-inch of water pumped. Disadvantages include greater labor costs and lower application efficiency compared to sprinkler and subsurface drip irrigation. The number of furrow irrigated acres in Nebraska has decreased from 2.4 million to approximately 1.5 million acres in the past 10 years.

Step-by-step instructions for using the worksheet version of the Odor Footprint Tool and an example completed worksheet are provided in the following documents.

An important soil characteristic, the percolation rate, measures how long it takes water to drop one inch in a saturated hole dug in soil. Fast: 1 inch in 3 minutes (sandy soil). Slow: 1 inch in 48 minutes (clay soil). If it takes less than 5 minutes for the water to drop 1 inch in a saturated hole, the effluent will move too rapidly to be treated properly, such as in sandy soil.