Source: United States Senator for Nebraska Deb Fischer
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, today applauded the U.S. Department of the Interior’s grant announcement to provide $1.93 million in grant funding to two water conservation projects in southwest Nebraska. A portion of the funding for the WaterSmart Program comes from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
The Middle Republican Natural Resources District’s Remote Irrigation Meter and Irrigation Water Conservation Project will receive $1,100,000 in funding. The Upper Republican Natural Resources District’s High Plains Aquifer Preservation and Irrigation Scheduling Project will receive $834,310 in funding.
“Nebraska’s natural resource districts empower locally-elected community members to effectively manage our water resources. I’m glad to see the bipartisan infrastructure law, which I supported, invest in this unique system of stewardship as we look to protect communities from the impacts of severe drought,” said Senator Fischer.
“Our WaterSMART grant will modernize water management for our NRD and hundreds of farmers across three of the most agriculturally productive counties in Nebraska, helping to preserve the High Plains Aquifer for future generations of farmers. We’ve been working hand-in-hand for 45 years with farmers to preserve water by implementing water conservation programs and regulations. Thanks to work from Sen. Deb Fischer and others to secure funding for projects like ours, we’ll take a big step forward in our efforts to conserve water, increase efficiency, and maintain productivity,” said Upper Republican Natural Resources District (URNRD) General Manager Jasper Fanning.
“This grant provides the Middle Republican NRD with enough resources to install telemetry meters on 100% of the groundwater wells. This project ensures accurate telemetry meters that are critical in controlling water quantity as well as addressing water quality. Without the WaterSMART Program, this project would not have been completed as is. WaterSMART was successful in partnering with the local MRNRD as well as coordinating with the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources,” said Middle Republican Natural Resources District (MRNRD) General Manager Jack Russell.
Background:
The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law included a total of $8.3 billion for reclamation water infrastructure projects across the country. These projects help to advance drought resilience and expand access to clean water.
$99 million of the $140 million in Department of the Interior water conservation investments announced last week comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
The Middle Republican Natural Resources District’s Remote Irrigation Meter and Irrigation Water Conservation will install near real-time telemetry equipment on 691 irrigation flow meters for improved on-farm water management and reporting. The project is expected to result in annual water savings of 2,610 acre-feet, which is currently lost to overwatering. Conserved water will remain in the local aquifer to maintain groundwater levels for future irrigation events as well as improve discharge for baseflow in the Republican River, which has been designated by the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources as over-appropriated for water resources.
The Upper Republican Natural Resources District’s High Plains Aquifer Preservation and Irrigation Scheduling Project will install 2,000 digital meter heads and transceivers at irrigation wells to transmit water usage information and crop evapotranspiration rates via a radio network. The real-time usage data will correlate with the district’s water-use allocations, allowing irrigators to manage water use relative to their allocation. The project is expected to reduce irrigation water use in the area by over 9%, which is the equivalent of 24,310 acre-feet annually. Conserved water will remain in the aquifer and help the State of Nebraska maintain compliance with the Republican River Compact and associated settlement agreement which allocates Republican River water use between Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado.
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