Number 60 July 1993 ISSN 1062-9149
Nebraska's ground water is one of the state's most precious and well-utilized resources. All but two communities in the state use ground water as their sole source of potable water. Ninety-nine percent of the state's rural population depends on ground water for drinking water.
Nebraska is intensively farmed. In 1990, it marketed more fed cattle and calves than any other state and ranked third in production of corn for grain (1). The state is second only to California in irrigated acres in crop production (2). Eighty-five percent of Nebraska's irrigated acres are watered from ground water wells (3).
Ground water pollution was identified as a major environmental problem in the state's Section 208 Water Quality Management Plan. Increased incidents of ground water contamination within the past decade have escalated concern about loss of this important water resource. Nitrate is the pollutant most frequently cited as impairing the desired use of Nebraska's ground water resource.
Nonpoint source contamination of ground water in Nebraska has been associated with commercially fertilized row crop agriculture, shallow depth to water, irrigated cropland, and sandy coarse soils (4, 5, 6). When large areas under intensive agricultural production are irrigated, the potential for ground water nonpoint source contamination is great (5, 6). Elevated concentrations of ni-trate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) have been found in areas with these characteristics (7, 8, 9). However, nonpoint source contamination has also been identified in areas not typi-cally considered at risk. For example, parts of central Nebraska where depth to water is greater than 100 feet and soils are heavy and clay-rich have elevated nitrate-N levels in ground water (10, 11, 12).
Recognizing the need for a localized response to natural resources issues such as depletion of ground water, the Nebraska Unicameral passed a bill in 1969 creating Nebraska's Natural Resources Districts (NRDs) (13). Originally 24 in number, now 23, the NRD boundaries are roughly drawn on river basin divides. NRDs are local agencies with broad regulatory authorities in the area of resource management. They have the power to levy taxes within their boundaries and are governed by an elected board. The agencies serve as the local implementing agency for many of the state's resource management programs. The NRDs carry out programs in tree planting, watershed projects, erosion control, chemigation inspection and permitting, education projects, rural water sup-plies, fish and wildlife projects, and ground water quality and quantity.
In 1981, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) began preparing a comprehensive ground water quality protection strategy. The effort was funded by U.S. EPA as a National Water Quality Management Ground Water Prototype project. The goal of the project was to produce a ground water quality protection strategy that would provide the state with a road map for attaining a prevention-oriented ground water quality protection program. The strategy was finalized in 1985, following numerous statewide public meetings at which the strategy received strong support. Several elements were identified in the strategy to further evaluate and address agricultural chemicals in ground water. Two institutional components considered essential to establishing a comprehensive ground water quality protection program were recommended: 1) a State Emergency and Remedial Action Fund and 2) Special Ground Water Quality Protection Areas. Legislation passed in 1986 established the Special Protection Area (SPA) Pro-gram (14), which is designed to educate farm operators and the public and to reduce or eliminate nonpoint source ground water contamination.
The Special Protection Area Program represents a somewhat unique approach to managing nonpoint source pollution. The designation of a SPA allows the state and local NRD to move from the voluntary to the regulatory arena in addressing nonpoint source ground water contamination.
Both NDEQ and local NRDs are major players within the SPA Program. The NDEQ is responsible for evaluating ground water data, conducting intensive site-specific studies, holding public hearings, defining boundaries to proposed areas (with supporting rationale), and, ultimately, designating SPAs, where appropriate. Appropriateness is measured on the basis of two criteria: 1) the presence of nonpoint source contaminants at levels of impairment, concern, or increasing concentration trends or 2) the imminent threat that within the foreseeable future, nonpoint source pollutants will impair desired uses of the ground water resource. The entire process of SPA designation can take a full three years from start to finish.
The SPA process (diagrammed in Figure 1) begins when evidence that a nonpoint source contamination problem may exist is presented to the NDEQ. These potential problem areas are prioritized for study, after which a year-long study of the area of concern is initiated. The study can include sampling irrigation, domestic, and municipal wells; researching past water quality data; and evaluating existing soil and hydrogeologic information. The informa-tion gathered and recommendations are presented in a report and a hearing is held to obtain public comments and allow other state agencies to respond to the recommendations. After considering both testimony and recommendations, the Director of NDEQ decides whether or not to designate a SPA. If a SPA is designated, the NRD in which the area is located has 180 days to develop an action plan to address the nonpoint source contamination.
Action plans delineate the management approach and schedules which the local NRDs or the state will follow to stabilize, reduce, or prevent ground water contamination within a designated SPA. The law requires that an action plan include, at minimum: an educational program instituted by the NRD to inform persons of methods to stabilize or reduce contaminant levels and 2) protective measures, which could be a requirement that water users participate in an educational program and/or a requirement that appropriate best management practices (BMPs) be used. The implementation of the action plan must continue until such time as the nonpoint source problem or threat is alleviated or long-term contaminant stabilization is achieved. Amendments to action plans and protective measures can be required by NDEQ if implementation of the original protective measures proves unsuccessful in addressing the problem.
If an acceptable plan is not produced or no plan is presented, the law specifies that the NDEQ develop and implement an action plan in the SPA. To date, this has not occurred.
The NRD is required to establish, in cooperation with NDEQ, a program to monitor the quality of ground water in the designated areas.
By the end of 1992, eight SPA studies had been completed, with the results of two additional studies due in 1993 (see Figure 2). To date, two SPAs (Superior-Hardy in south central Nebraska and Red Willow-Hitchcock in the south western part of the state) have been designated and both action plans approved. One of these plans is discussed below as an example of an action plan.
In 1990, the NDEQ designated the first SPA on a 32-square-mile area around Superior and Hardy in southern Nuckolls County after a NDEQ study showed nitrate levels at or above 10 mg/l in this area of mixed irrigated and dryland farming (8).
The Lower Republican and Little Blue NRDs worked together to develop an action plan for the SPA. The major components of the plan, approved in 1991, were designed by a local committee of citizens, including farm operators, bankers, doctors, ag-business owners, and homemakers. The University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension Service, county Soil Conservation Service, and other local experts assisted the committee (16). The emphasis of the action plan is placed on phased implementation of controls:
Both state-level (NDEQ) and local-level (NRD) programs exist which have the potential to place mandatory controls on farm operators in Nebraska. In SPAs, farm opera-tors can be required to attend education classes about nitrogen and irrigation management. Farm operators can also be required to have soil samples analyzed for nitrogen content and to provide annual reports on soil testing results, fertilizer usage, and other information.
Farm operators may also be restricted as to how much fertilizer may be applied. They must take into account the available nitrogen in the soil (plus nitrate in water available in Phase II) before calculating fertilizer application rates, according to the University of Nebraska recom-mendations.
One way to judge the effectiveness of a program that places mandatory controls on farm operators is to look at the degree of participation. For the Superior SPA, less than 10% of the farm operators have failed to participate in required training sessions (21).
While no program of mandatory controls is going to be acceptable to everyone, Nebraska's nonpoint source contamination management programs have attained fairly widespread acceptance and participation. A good begin-ning has been made to protect a critical resource.
Martha Link or Richard Ehrman
Ground Water Section, Department of Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 98922,
Lincoln, NE 68509
402-471-0096.
(1) Nebraska Department of Agricultural Statistics. 1991. 1990/1991 Nebraska Agricultural Statistics.
(2) Shank, B. F. 1992. 1991 Irrigation Survey, Irrigation Journal 42(1).
(3) France, S. Nebraska Dept. Water Resources, personal communication, 1992
(4) Exner, M.E. and R.F. Spalding. 1979. Evolution of Contaminated Groundwater in Holt County, Nebraska, Water Resources Research15(1).
(5) Gormly, J.R. and R. F. Spalding. 1979. Sources and Concentrations of Nitrate-Nitrogen in Ground Water of the Central Platte Region, Nebraska, Ground Water 17(3).
(6) Spalding, R. F., J. R. Gormly, B. H. Curtiss, and M. E. Exner. 1978. Nonpoint Nitrate Contamination of Ground Water in Merrick County, Nebraska, Ground Water 16(2)
(7) Exner, M. F. and R. F. Spalding. 1991. Trend Analysis of Ground-Water Quality in Holt County within the Upper Elkhorn Natural Resources District. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Water Center, open file report WC/WSL 91-2.
(8) Ehrman, D. 1988. A Study of Nonpoint Source Ground Water Contamination in Southern Nuckolls County, Nebraska: A Special Protection Area Report. Nebr. Dept. of Environmental Control.
(9) Link, M. 1991. A Study of Nonpoint Source Ground Water Contamination in Red Willow and Hitchcock Counties, Nebraska: A Special Protection Area Report. Nebr. Dept. of Environmental Control.
(10) Gottula, J. 1990. A Study of Nonpoint Source Ground Water Contamination in the Eastern Portion of the Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District: A Special Protection Area Report. Nebr. Dept. of Environmental Control.
(11) Gottula, J. and M. Link. 1992. A Study of Nonpoint Source Ground Water Contamination in the Western Portion of the Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District: A Special Protection Area Report. Nebr. Dept. of Environmental Control.
(12) Kitchen, L. 1987. Nitrate-N Profiles of Fine to Medium Textured Sediments of the Unsaturated Zone of Southeast and South-Central Nebraska. Unpublished Univ. Nebraska-Lincoln Master's Thesis.
(13) Trewhitt, T. R. 1991. Preferences of Nonpoint Source Groundwater Protection Programs by Nebraska's Natural Resources Districts. Unpublished Univ. Nebraska-Lincoln Master's Thesis.
(14) Conservation and Survey Division, Univ. Nebraska-Lincoln. 1990. A Manual on the Preparation of Special Groundwater Protection Area Action Plans. Nebr. Dept. of Environmental Control and Nebr. Assoc. of Resources Districts.
(15) Nebraska Department of Environmental Control. 1988. Title 196, Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Special Protection Areas.
(16) Lower Republican Natural Resources District and Little Blue Natural Resources District. 1990. Superior-Hardy Special Protection Area "Action Plan".
(17) Middle Republican Natural Resources District. 1992. Local Action Plan, Special Protection Area, Red Willow and Hitchcock Counties.
(18) Moravek, M. Central Platte NRD, personal communication, 1992.
(19) Link, M. 1990. A Study of Nonpoint Source Ground Water Contamination near Wilcox and Hildreth, Nebraska: A Special Protection Area Report. Dept. of Environmental Control.
(20) Horn, Rod. South Platte NRD, personal communication, 1992.
(21) Wunibald, Ron. Lower Republican NRD, personal communication, 1992.
Monitoring of both land treatment and water quality is necessary to document the effectiveness of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution controls in restoring water quality. The Section 319 National Monitoring Program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), is designed to support 20 to 30 watershed projects throughout the country that meet a minimum set of project planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation requirements. The requirements are designed to lead to successful documentation of project effectiveness with respect to water quality protection or improvement. The National Monitoring Program projects comprise a small subset of NPS pollution control projects funded under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987. The following article continues a series describing the 319 National Monitor-ing Program projects.
The Elm Creek 319 National Monitoring Program project is located in southcen-tral Nebraska, near the Kansas border. The creek flows southerly through an agricultural wa-tershed characterized by rolling hills and gently sloping uplands. Agriculture consists of dryland crops of wheat and sorghum (42%), irrigated corn (7%), pasture/range lands (44%), forest (2%), and other (5%). Acreage of irrigated corn, grown near the creek, has been increasing in recent years. Range and pasture dominate the more steeply sloping areas.
A primary water use of Elm Creek is trout and other fishing. The creek has been designated by the state as a Class A Coldwater stream (stream capable of sustaining salmonid spawning). As one of two coldwater streams in southern Nebraska, Elm Creek is an unique stream resource.
Although the overall water quality of Elm Creek is good, sedimentation, in-creased water temperatures, and high peak flows are impairing aquatic life through habitat destruction. The potential loss of the coldwater aquatic life use of the creek, including the trout fishery, is probable with continued nonpoint source (NPS) pollution impacts.
Land treatments to reduce runoff and sedimentation and decrease or stabi-lize water temperatures are currently being installed as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Hydrologic Unit Area (HUA) project. Land treatment will be targeted primarily at cropland runoff and streambank and cropland erosion. Creek remedia-tion will include non-conventional best management practices (BMPs), water quality and runoff control structures, water quality land treatment, and conventional water quality management practices. Many BMPs will be funded as part of the HUA project; some will be financed with U.S. EPA 319 funds. Land use will be inven-toried. Cropland practices and BMP implementation will be tracked.
The Agricultural Nonpoint Source Model (AGNPS) was used initially by state Soil Conservation Service (SCS) personnel to define the critical area in the watershed. Land use changes will be added annually by local SCS staff in order to track these changes more closely.
1992 - 1996 (potentially longer if funding is renewed)
A thorough water quality analysis of Elm Creek in the early 1980s indicated that the creek's water quality was very good. There was, however, storm-related degradation which caused short- and long-term habitat destruction. Coldwater habitat use, or at least a put-and-take trout fishery, of Elm Creek appears to be attainable if the peak flows and sedimentation that occur during storm events can be reduced.
A watershed treatment plan designed by local SCS and Webster County Coopera-tive Extension personnel includes sediment-reducing and runoff-control BMPs. Land treatment addresses upland treatment measures and riparian and instream habitat management measures. BMPs, which will be installed throughout the watershed, have been divided into four categories: 1) non-conventional BMPs (vegetative filter strips, permanent vegetative cover on critical areas, streambank stabilization, livestock access and exclusion, and ground water recharge); 2) water quality and runoff control structures; 3) water quality land treatment (tree plantings, permanent vegetative cover, terraces, and stripcropping); and 4) conventional water quality management programs (integrated pest management, irrigation management, conserva-tion tillage, and range management). Field-level SCS personnel are responsible for resource evaluation, conservation planning, survey design, and processing of applications for cost share funds.
Non-conventional BMPs will be funded under a U.S. EPA Section 319 grant. Other BMPs will be funded with 75% cost share funds from the HUA project. Selected BMPs will be cost shared at 100% (75% from section 319 funds and 25% from the Lower Republican Natural Resource District). The number and types of BMPs implemented will depend on voluntary farmer participation.
Land use will be inventoried by the HUA project, SCS, and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ). Cropland and BMP implementation will be tracked using the 40-acre grid system used for AGNPs modeling. Land use data will be combined with water quality monitoring data collected as part of the 319 National Monitoring Program project to determine the effectiveness of BMPs.
Water quality monitoring for trend detection will include a single downstream station and an upstream/downstream design with sites located two miles apart.
Grab samples will be collected weekly from March through September to provide chemical data. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), substrate samples (% gravel, % fines), total suspended solids (TSS), atrazine, and alachlor will be measured. Biological and habitat data, consisting of macroinvertebrate samples, fish collections, artificial redds (to determine salmonid embryo survival), and creel surveys, will be collected on a seasonal basis.Additional measurements will include a continuous recording thermograph that will record from June through September, rainfall (recording rain gage) from April through September, and stream discharge (measured at a U.S. Geological Survey gaging station).
The NPS management objective in the Elm Creek watershed is to implement appropriate and feasible NPS control measures for the protection and enhancement of water quality in Elm Creek. Of prime importance is the enhancement of water quality for the protection of coldwater aquatic life use (Class A or B) for Elm Creek.
Information and education (I&E) activities are being implemented as part of the Elm Creek HUA project. The University of Nebraska and Cooperative Extension in Webster County are in charge of I&E. Activities include: newsletters, a NPS video, slide shows, questionnaires, fact sheets, demonstration sites, field days, and meetings.
Ambient water quality data will be entered into U.S. EPA STORET. Biological data will be stored in U.S. EPA BIOS. Other data will be stored using either Lotus or dBase IV files. All data will be stored and analyzed with the U.S. EPA NonPoint Source Management System (NPSMS). These data will be managed by the NDEQ. Data assessment and reporting will consist of quarterly activity, reports, yearly interim reports focusing on land treatment, and a final report that assesses and links water quality and land treatment results.
Water Quality and Administration: Land Treatment:
The booklet may be ordered (free) from David Welsch, USDA Forest Service, 100 Matson Ford Rd., Suite 200, 5 Radnor Corporate. Cntr, Radnor, PA 19087, (215) 975-4132.
Copies are available (free) from NCSU Water Quality Group, 615 Oberlin Rd., Suite 100, Raleigh, NC 27605-1126. PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
Elm Creek Watershed (Nebraska)
Section 319 National Monitoring Program Project
Deanna L. Osmond, NCSU Water Quality Group
Project Synopsis
Project Time Frame
Pre-Project Water Quality
Nonpoint Source Control Strategy
Water Quality Monitoring Design
Project Water Quality Objectives
Information, Education, and Publicity
Water Quality Data Management and Analysis
For Further Information
Dave Jensen
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
1200 N Street, Suite 400, The Atrium
P.O. Box 98922, Lincoln, NE 68509
Tel: 402-471-4700
Scott Montgomery
USDA-SCS
20 N. Webster, Red Cloud, NE 68970
Tel: 402-746-2268 INFORMATION
Riparian Forest Buffers
Evaluation of the Experimental Rural Clean Water Program