Water News Archive

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Stormwater Runoff Issues from Landscapes

Rain water and irrigation go to the storm drain

Storm drains in some towns have markers that read “No dumping. Drains to waterways”. These markers are part of the public education communities are doing to help protect surface water from urban run-off pollution.

Most residential areas are designed for rainwater to flow into the street and then into a storm drain. From there, it flows almost directly to a stream, river or lake, taking along what it picks up from surfaces it flows across.

Friday, August 24, 2018

Nebraska GeoCloud: An Information Hub for Nebraska Groundwater

Using high-tech instruments suspended from helicopters, Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts are getting a new look at what lies below. Airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys use principles of electromagnetic induction to generate images of the subsurface. In the past ten years, more than 18,000 miles of AEM surveys were completed in the State: about 6,600 miles were flown in 2018 alone.

Friday, August 3, 2018

Lagoon Closure and Your Environmental Responsibility

photo of the Haskell Ag Lab's swine lagoon during the dewatering process

Abandoned manure storages present a risk to the environment by accidental overflow or leakage due to lack of management. It is in the best interest of the environment and the property owner, who is liable for any environmental damage resulting from any discharge, whether leakage or overflow, to properly close any unused manure storage structure.

Friday, July 27, 2018

Iron and manganese in water

Discolored water. A strange odor. Stained ceramic fixtures such as tubs, sinks and toilets. Discolored clothes, towels and dishes. Reduced water pressure. These are all some of the potential impacts from high levels of iron and manganese in your water supply.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Water Wise Home Gardens – Reducing Water Usage and Irrigating Efficiently with Drip

While we can’t ever control or even predict the weather, it is important to have a plan on how to deliver water to our home gardens during the hot, dry months of the summer. While Nebraska may be the capitol of crop irrigation systems, many home gardeners don’t give quite as much thought about water management and delivery in their home vegetable gardens or landscapes.
Aside from reducing water need through some good management practices, delivering water in an efficient and sustainable way is important when planning and planting our home gardens.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Water and Crops Field Day Offered Aug. 23 in North Platte

Nebraska Extension, the Ogallala Water Project and the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance will host a water and crops field day on Aug. 23 at the West Central Research and Extension Center, 402 W. State Farm Road, North Platte.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Timing Manure Application to Avoid Neighbor Nuisances

dry manure spreader with horizontal beaters

Roughly half of all neighbor complaints of livestock odors originate from land application of manure. A weather forecast and a little knowledge of odor dilution can be a powerful tool for keeping your neighbors happy, or at least avoiding those irate phone calls. Picking the right weather conditions for land applying manure, may not improve your popularity in the community, but it can go along way with improving your community’s acceptance of livestock systems.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Managing Dust in Open Beef Feedlots

management is key to controlling feedlot dust

Management is the key to keeping dust under control. By using some basic dust control techniques, open feedlots can prevent or minimize the problem.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Rain Garden Hydrologic Performance Depends on Proper Design and Installation

Rain Garden, Photo from Kelly Feehan, Extension Educator

Rain gardens are an aesthetic feature of your residential landscape that also has a hydrologic function. Hydrologic means related to water. A properly designed and constructed rain garden for a residential landscape (no underground drainage system) is designed like a bathtub to hold water and let it slowly seep into the soil beneath the garden. This water is available for plant growth, and this water is removed from runoff that leaves your yard and does not contribute to downstream flooding or pollution. How well does your rain garden serve its hydrologic function?

Monday, June 25, 2018

Determining Crop Water Use

Do you know how much water your crop is using on a daily basis? When I ask this question most guys tell me somewhere between 0.20 - 0.40 inches per day. Sometimes they are close but wouldn’t it be nice to know for sure? It is rather simple to figure out if you have the right tools.

An atmometer, such as the ETgage®, is what you need to calculate reference ET. ET stands for evapotranspiration. This is the amount of water evaporated from the soil and plant surface and transpired through the plant.