Groundwater Management Plan Effective July 1

In May 2023, the Central Platte NRD’s Board of Directors approved updates to both the water quantity and water quality portions of the Groundwater Management Plan. The Plan will become effective on July 1, 2023.  Full text of the plan   Maps

Updates to CPNRD’s Groundwater Management Plan
1) Water Quantity Phase I trigger changed to a range of 0-25% of the Maximum Acceptable Decline (MAD). Phase II applies to any area with declines greater than 25% of the MAD. Phase III changed to 50% decline in water levels relative to the MADs. If water levels in a given GWMA continues to decline and reaches 75% of the MAD, the GWMA would be at a Phase IV level. A Phase V designation would be implemented if that MAD is 100% reached or exceeded.

2) The preferred option for groundwater quantity management controls related to each phase is measuring devices and a limit on the volume of groundwater pumped. Phase I has no additional management requirements. Phase II remains as is with limitations on transfers and supplemental wells. When the Phase III trigger is reached, measurement devices will be required on all active irrigation wells in the GWMA, and the owner or operator of every active well will be required to report annual water usage to the CPNRD. At the Phase IV trigger, CPNRD would allocate groundwater use to prevent the GWMA from reaching the MAD. If the initial allocation is insufficient to prevent reaching the MAD, and that MAD is reached or exceeded, this would trigger a Phase V designation, requiring a reduction of the allocation.

3) Ground Water Management Areas 7 and 9 were subdivided due to differences in irrigation development that have occurred across those GWMAs.

4) Water Quality Phase Triggers:
Phase I: 0-7.5 ppm, Phase II: 7.6-10.0 ppm, Phase III: 10.1 ppm & above. Phase IV: An area where nitrate concentrations are not decreasing

YOUR CPNRD CONTACT:  Courtney Widup  |  widup@cpnrd.org   |  308-395-7605