Twin Platte NRD 

Ground Water Management Plan Page - 1 Chapter 8 

CHAPTER 8. GROUND WATER QUANTITY 
Twin Platte NRD 

Ground Water Management Plan Page - 2 Chapter 8 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Page

8.1 Historical Review Regarding the Nebraska Ground Water

 Management and Protection Act (GWMPA) ............................... 3 

 

8.2 Methods of Formation of Ground Water Protection ................... 4 

8.3 Districtwide Ground Water Management Area .................... 5 

8.4 Ground Water Quantity Management Program ......................... 5 

 

8.5 Other Actions to be Considered for Implementation

 to Protect Water Quantity .............................................................. 9 

 

8.6 Implementation Time Frame for Establishing a 

Management Area ........................................................................ 9

8.7 Identifying and Establishing Boundaries ...................................... 10 

 

8.8 Enhance District's Ground Water Monitoring System ................. 10 
Twin Platte NRD 

Ground Water Management Plan Page - 3 Chapter 8 

CHAPTER 8 GROUND WATER QUANTITY 

 

8.1 Historical Review Regarding the Nebraska Ground Water Management and 

Protection Act (GWMPA)

Since its original enactment in 1975, the Ground Water Management and Protection Act, 

has been modified several times. The Nebraska State Legislature adopted the Ground 

Water Management Act (GWMA) in 1975, in response to growing concern over ground 

water depletion occurring in the state through the mining of aquifers. This Act provided 

a method to control and regulate ground water depletion (quantity), but did not address 

ground water quality issues. 

The Nebraska Legislature revised the GWMA to incorporate ground water quality 

concerns in 1982. The title of the Act was changed to the Ground Water Management and 

Protection Act (GWMPA). The 1982 GWMPA did not provide specific authority to 

prevent ground water quality degradation. However, it did establish a basis that would 

ultimately authorize the NRDs to administer non-point source contamination regulations 

through the implementation of Ground Water Quality Management Areas (GWQMA). 

Legislation enacted in 1986 provided the NRDs with the authority to choose to establish 

ground water management areas after preparation of a District Ground Water 

Management Plan. 

Legislative Bill 1106, enacted in 1984, mandated that each of the 23 NRDs develop a 

ground water management plan to inventory the ground water resources within each 

District, but contamination concerns were not a required component of the plan. 

Revisions included in the 1986 update of the Act further defined the role of the Natural 

Resources Districts and the means by which they could address non-point source ground 

water contamination. 

The concept of Special Protection Area (SPA) was first introduced in the Legislature in 

1983 in LB 426, which did not pass. A similar bill, LB 463, was introduced in 1985, 

which did not pass either. A compromise bill, LB 894, was adopted in 1986. LB 894 

allowed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to administer 

regulations for ground water non-point source contamination. In addition, this legislation 

gave NDEQ the ability to engage in a non-point source contamination issue at the request 

of other entities than just NRDs. 

Several pieces of legislation passed in the Nebraska Unicameral have affected the SPA 

program since its inception in 1986. LB 51, enacted in 1991, imposed that prior to July 

1, 1993, each NRD shall amend its ground water management plan to identify to the 

extent possible: 1) levels and sources of ground water contamination within the area, 2) 

ground water quality goals, 3) long term solutions necessary to prevent the levels of 

ground water contaminants from becoming too high and to reduce high levels sufficiently 

to eliminate health hazards, and 4) practices recommended to stabilize, reduce, and 

prevent the occurrence, increase, or spread of ground water contamination. 
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LB 51 also gave the Director of Environmental Quality the authority to require an NRD 

which has established a Ground Water Quality Management Area to adopt an "action 

plan" for designated SPAs. 

LB 21 was passed in the 1992 Nebraska Legislative Session and became effective July 

15, 1993. The primary purpose of LB 21 was to allow a Natural Resources District with 

a Special Protection Area to increase its general tax levy by up to one-half cent per $100 

valuation. In such NRDs, the maximum levy will be five cents per $100 valuation. 

The 1993 legislative session resulted in the passage of LB 439 which allows reduction of 

irrigated acres in Water Management Areas. This bill was requested by the Central Platte 

NRD and authorizes NRDs with GWQMAs to adopt the type of acreage reduction 

program (equal percentage of acres reduced for all ground water irrigators) which Central 

Platte NRD uses for ground water quantity management. This bill also modified the 

definition of rotation to allow its use on a yearly basis. Previously, rotation could not be 

based on time periods longer than a month. 

In 2004, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 962, which went into effect July 15, 2004. 

This bill required the Department of Natural Resources to identify geographic areas 

where surface water and ground water are hydrologically connected and to designate 

river basin(s) that are fully appropriated and over appropriated. Once a basin has been 

designated fully appropriated, the NRD must work in conjunction with DNR to develop 

an Integrated Management Plan. The development of the IMP may take three to five 

years. 

 

8.2 Methods of Formation for Ground Water Protection

NRDs have the authority to establish Ground Water Management Areas, to address 

ground water quantity concerns. Prior to designating a management area, an NRD must 

have prepared a ground water management plan that includes a ground water reservoir 

life goal and which specifies how proposed controls will impact this goal. 

Actions that may be used in a Ground Water Management Area include: 1) Permits 

required to construct water wells, 2) Adoption of authorized controls that have been 

identified in the NRDs Ground Water Management Plan, 3) determination of the total 

amount of ground water to be withdrawn , and 4) After a public hearing, an NRD Board 

of Directors may dissolve a management area based on ground water returning to 

acceptable levels and land use practices that no longer pose a contamination threat to 

ground water. 

 

Before considering a Ground Water Management Area the District will evaluate all 

available alternatives. When determining whether to designate a Ground Water 

Management Area, the District will consider its financial and technical capabilities; 

public input and concerns, and seek to identify the needs for any additional studies to 

confirm the District's problem(s). 
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8.3 Districtwide Ground Water Management Area

The Twin Platte Natural Resources District will establish the entire district as a Ground 

Water Quantity Management Area upon approval of revisions for the Ground Water 

Management Plan to take a proactive approach to protecting the ground water resources. 

Upon establishment of a Districtwide Ground Water Quantity Management Area: 

◊ Permits will be required for all new wells with the capacity to pump greater 

than 50 gallons per minute. 

◊ A maximum allowed irrigated acres will be determined for all new well 

permits issued. The maximum allowed irrigated acres will be determined 

based on that the total irrigated acres will not exceed 25% of the land area 

within a one mile radius of a new well which lies within the Twin Platte 

Natural Resources District. (Example: There are 2010 acres within a one 

mile radius circle and the total irrigated acres within that circle will not exceed 

502.5 acres – 25% of the land area) The new well must be located within the 

area of the acres irrigated from the new well. 

8.4 Twin Platte NRD Ground Water Quantity Management Program

The Goal of the Twin Platte NRD's Ground Water Quantity Management Program is to 

maintain or improve the quantity of ground water consistent with the goals and objectives 

of the District as provided in Chapter 6. The District envisions their goal being 

accomplished first through voluntary and mandatory educational programs and 

implementation of agricultural and conservation techniques such as the use of Quantity 

Best Management Practices (BMPs). 

The District's Ground Water Quantity Management Program will establish a Ground 

Water Quantity Management subarea within a Major Land Resources Area or portion 

thereof where ground water quantity is or could become a problem. 

Currently, the District recognizes that the major threat to depletion of ground water is 

related to irrigation. The District began a ground water level monitoring program for 

ground water table levels in 1976 and continues to monitor 116 sites annually. The 

District initiated a ground water model study titled "Hydrology of Parts of the Twin 

Platte and Middle Republican Natural Resources Districts, Southeastern Nebraska" which 

was published in April, 1992 and on file in the Twin Platte Natural Resources District 

office and initiated a ground water model study titled "Simulation of Ground Water 

Movement in the High Plains Aquifer, Southern Sandhills Area, West Central Nebraska” 

which is expected to be completed late in 1995 to establish base-line water quantity 

conditions in the District and to access future conditions. The District's data collection 

efforts and ground water modeling studies are described in Chapter 5. Depending on the 

scope and trends in the ground water, the District will proceed with addressing those 

problems within a Major Land Resource Area or portion thereof when the spring ground 

water table levels trends show a three year average decrease of 10.0 feet or greater from 
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the 1983 baseline year or a 25% or greater density of ground water irrigated acres within 

the Major Land Resources Area or portion thereof. The year 1983 was selected as a 

baseline due to the TPNRD implementing additional monitoring sites that year. The 

triggering mechanism will be based on the average of the data collected in each township 

and the average of the township data in each Major Land Resource Area or the average of 

the data collected in the portion of the Major Land Resource Area under consideration for 

additional management. 

8.4.1 Major Land Resources Management Areas

The District's Ground Water Quantity Management Program for Ground Water 

Management Subareas will be implemented within Major Land Resource Areas or within 

a portion of the Major Land Resources Area in three phases to address ground water 

quantity problems. The triggering mechanism established below will be used to guide the 

District when considering a Ground Water Management Subarea to address ground water 

quantity problems. The triggering mechanism will also be used to move from one 

management phase to another based on data received from the District's ground water 

level monitoring system. The triggering mechanism will be based on the previous three 

year spring average ground water table levels compared to the 1983 baseline year or the 

density of irrigated acres within the Major Land Resource Area or portion thereof. 

Implementation of Phase II will be considered two years following the implementation of 

Phase I and annually thereafter and implementation of Phase III will be considered two 

years following the implementation of Phase II and annually thereafter. The triggering 

mechanism for each phase: 

 Phase I: 10.0 feet or greater decline 

 Or 

 25% or greater density of ground water irrigated acres 

 

Phase II: Subsequent declines equal to 30% of the average decline which 

initiated Phase I 

 Or 

 Subsequent 30% increase of irrigated acre density which initiated 

Phase I 

 

Phase III: Subsequent declines equal to 30% of the total of the average 

decline which initiated Phase I and Phase II 

 Or 

 Subsequent 30% increase of irrigated acre density which initiated 

Phase II 

Prior to the establishment of a Ground Water Quantity Management Subarea, the NRD 

will develop rules and regulations to implement the controls described below. 

 
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Phase I: Initiation 

A Ground Water Quantity Management Subarea will be established throughout a Major 

Land Resource Area or within a portion of the Major Land Resource Area when the 

Phase I triggering mechanism in section 8.4.1 is met. 

 

Phase I: Controls

1) The TPNRD will coordinate a mandatory multifaceted educational program for 

ground water users. The program will emphasize ground water use management 

through information, education and site demonstrations. 

2) The TPNRD may initiate a moratorium on the issuance of additional well 

construction permits. A moratorium may be in place for no more than 3 years 

without subsequent renewal by the Board of Director’s. 

3) The TPNRD may establish a minimum spacing distance between new wells more 

stringent than statutory requirements. 

4) The TPNRD may establish a smaller number of maximum allowed irrigated acres 

within a one mile radius of a new well and/or increase the radius around a new 

well. 

A list of recommended quantity best management practices are summarized in Table 8-1 

(Located at end of Chapter 8). These practices will be incorporated into the general 

education program. 

Table 8-2 (Located at end of Chapter 8) outlines assistance programs that can be 

developed by the NRD to support landowners in addressing ground water declines in a 

given area(s). 

Phase II: Initiation

When the Phase II triggering mechanism in Section 8.4.1 is met for an established 

Ground Water Management Subarea, Phase II controls will be implemented. 

Phase II: Controls

1) All requirements in Phase I will be continued. 

2) The TPNRD may initiate a moratorium on the issuance of additional well 

construction permits. A moratorium may be in place for no more than 3 years 

without subsequent renewal by the Board of Director’s. 

3) The TPNRD will also adopt one or more of the controls listed below: 
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◊ Implementation of an allocation schedule and allocating the total amount of 

ground water that may be withdrawn. Allocation for purposes of irrigation 

means the allotment of a specified total number of acre-inches of irrigation 

water per irrigated acre over any reasonable period of time. Flow meters or 

other approved water measuring devices will be required to measure the 

amount of ground water applied to each irrigated field and reports, on forms 

developed by the District, will be required to be submitted to the District. 

◊ Require District approval of transfers of ground water off of the land where 

the water is withdrawn and/or transfers of ground water allocations. 

◊ Adoption of a rotation system for use of ground water. 

◊ Adoption of a system for reducing irrigated acres. 

◊ Establishment of a minimum spacing distance between new wells more 

stringent than statutory requirements. 

◊ Establishment of a smaller number of maximum allowed irrigated acres within 

the area around a new well and/or increases the radius around a new well. 

Phase III. Initiation

When the Phase III triggering mechanism in Section 8.4.1 is met for an established 

Ground Water Management Subarea, Phase III controls will be implemented. 

Phase III. Controls

1) All requirements in Phases I & II will be continued. 

2) The TPNRD may initiate a moratorium on the issuance of additional well 

construction permits. A moratorium may be in place for no more than 3 years 

without subsequent renewal by the Board of Director’s. 

3) One or more of the control(s) established in Phase II will be revised to: 

A) Adopt more restrictive requirements for District transfer permits. 

B) Reduce the allocation of the total permissible amount of ground water that 

may be withdrawn. 

C) Adopt a more restrictive rotation system for use of ground water. 

D) Adopt a system to further reduce irrigated acres. 

E) Establish a greater minimum spacing distance between new wells. 
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F) Establish a smaller maximum number of allowed irrigated acres within the 

area around a new well and/or increase the radius around a new well. 

and/or 

 One or more of the following controls will be established to the extent not 

previously established: 

A) Require District approval of transfers of ground water off of the land 

where the water is withdrawn and/or transfers of ground water allocations. 

B) Implementation of an allocation schedule and allocating the total amount 

of ground water that may be withdrawn. Allocation for purposes of 

irrigation, means the allotment of a specified total number of acre-inches 

of irrigation water per irrigated acre per year or an average number of 

acre-inches of irrigation water per irrigated acre over any reasonable 

period of time. 

C) Adoption of a rotation system for use of ground water. 

D) Adoption of a system for reducing irrigated acres. 

E) Establishment of a minimum spacing distance between new wells more 

stringent than statutory requirements. 

F) Establishment of a smaller number of maximum allowed irrigated acres 

within the area around a new well and/or increase the radius around a new 

well. 

8.5 Other District Actions to be Considered for Implementation to Protect Water 

Quantity: 

The NRD will work with cities/villages to improve water use efficiency and establish 

water use conservation guidelines. 

8.6 Implementation Time Frame for Establishing a Management Area 

The main reason for establishing a Management Area is to prevent or reduce declines of 

water quantity. 

Whenever ground water quantity is threatened, meaningful data is necessary to make 

informed decisions. Studies may be done to define the source, extent, mechanisms and 

effects to identify the extent of a subarea. 
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Data collected within an area, consecutively over a three year period, will provide the 

District with an opportunity to observe the seasonal effects of sampling activities and 

potential trends. The average levels based on this information will be used to determine 

the management phase (either I, II, or III) to address declines of ground water within a 

given area. 

The District Board of Directors reserves the option to proceed immediately in 

implementing Ground Water Quantity Management subareas. 

8.7 Identifying and Establishing Boundaries

The boundaries of a Ground Water Quantity Management subrea will be the Major Land 

Resource Area or a portion of a Major Land Resource Area, based on geologic and 

hydrologic characteristics, within the Twin Platte Natural Resources District as identified 

by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. 

8.8 Enhance District's Ground Water Monitoring System

It will be important to maintain a reliable ground water level monitoring system. Future 

decisions will be based on data from the monitoring system. The District's ground water 

monitoring program is located in Chapter 5. The data collected through the monitoring 

program will be accessible to landowners and operators within the monitoring network. 
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Table 8-1 

Recommended Quantity Best Management Practices

The following are recommended as quantity best management practices 

and will be incorporated into the general education program and certified 

training workshops. Detailed descriptions are not given for each practice. 

Descriptions used by the UN-L Cooperative Extension, Natural Resources 

Conservation Service and/or other recognized authorities will be used to 

define the practices. 

1. Irrigation Water Management 

 a. Flow meters 

 b. Irrigation scheduling 

 c. Surge valves 

 d. Buried pipe lines 

 e. Reuse pits, return lines 

 f. Measurement of field moisture conditions with moisture 

 blocks, tensiometers, soil probes, etc. 

 g. Determine crop water use using modified atmometers 

 h. Measurement of uniformity of water application by 

 sprinklers 

 i. Development of an irrigation water management plan on 

 each farm 

Table 8-2 

Potential TPNRD Assistance Programs

Technology Transfer: As development of agricultural and landscape 

technology becomes available which will benefit land use decisions, the 

NRD will communicate information to rural and urban landowners. 

The NRD will hold public meetings to provide an open forum to discuss 

new technologies or programs. Exhibits, rural and urban demonstration 

projects, newsletters, and reports by agencies/organizations will be used. 

Local news media will be used to keep the public informed of activities. 

Development of Ground Water Advisory Committees: The District will 

develop advisory committees for the purposes of becoming familiar with 

NRD regulatory authorities pertaining to ground water management and 

protection; to promote public understanding of ground water concerns; to 

advise the Twin Platte NRD Board of Directors on policy making to ensure 

that all viewpoints are considered, and to communicate on-going District 
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programs and projects. 

Cost-share Assistance: The District maintains the option to develop 

incentive programs to encourage the use of quantity best management 

practices. Outlined below are possible items for which cost-share funding 

could be available through the District. Similar cost share arrangements 

may be available through state and federal programs. 

 1) Flow Meters 

 2) Moisture Meters and Blocks, Tensiometers, and Soil Probes 

 3) Surge Systems 

 4) Irrigation Scheduling Services 

 5) Modified Atmometers 

 6) LEPA Systems 

 7) Well Abandonment Program 

 8) Independent Ag. Consultant 

Additional Monitoring Activities: An intensive ground water level 

monitoring program and network throughout the District is important in 

order to determine any changes in the condition of the ground water. This 

program has been explained in greater detail in Chapter 5 of the District's 

Ground Water Management Plan. 

GWLP:CH8