Nebraska'S Water Management Resource

NEBRASKA’S WATER MANAGEMENT RESOURCEProviding the sound science and support for managingNebraska’s most precious resource.WATER PLANNING IN NEBRASKA, INTEGRATEDMANAGEMENT AND ITS SUCCESS STORIESJENNIFER J. SCHELLPEPER, M.S., IWM DIVISION HEADNebraska Department of Natural Resources

Water Planningand IntegratedManagementSurface WaterGroundwaterFloodplainManagementDam SafetyField OfficesNEBRASKA’S WATER MANAGEMENT RESOURCEProviding the sound science and support formanaging Nebraska’s most precious resource.

Water Planningand IntegratedManagementSurface WaterGroundwaterFloodplainManagementDam SafetyField OfficesNEBRASKA’S WATER MANAGEMENT RESOURCEProviding the sound science and support formanaging Nebraska’s most precious resource.

WATER PLANNING IN NEBRASKA,INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT ANDITS SUCCESS STORIESPartnerships and stakeholder input enhance Nebraska’ssuccessful integrated management process

OverviewIntegrated watermanagement planningStakeholderinvolvementPlanningsuccesses

INTEGRATED MANAGEMENTPLANNING OVERVIEWAn IMP is a proactive, collaborative approach to managinghydrologically connected surface and groundwater

INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT

Integrated Management Planning:What is it? Proactive Protects existinginvestments Adaptive management Surface water andgroundwater management Jointly developed with NRD Suited to local conditions

Collaboration DNR a NaturalResources District(NRD)o IMP developmento Plan implementation Stakeholder Input

STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENTStakeholders participation is an essential part of theintegrated management planning process

Stakeholder process engages the public Gives them a place at thetable Meets their desire and needto be a part of the process Lets us know about needsnow and in the future

Variety of Stakeholders Districts – irrigation, reclamation, public power and irrigation Companies - mutual irrigation, canal Municipalities Groundwater Users Other water users and stakeholders, for example:o Fish & wildlifeo Recreationo Economic interests

Stakeholder participation Goals and objectives Activities designed toidentify needs andrelated importanceo Breakout sessionso Dot exercise (e.g. identifylikes, dislikes)o Quadrant (e.g. effort andtime requirements)

Participant Comments “We also knew that in our district, you don’t do any planning without anybroad comprehensive public involvement process. That is what we feltwe needed to make sure we were going to be able to engage all thestakeholders and do our best to try and bring them into the process.”-Voluntary IMP Interviewee #1 “You had people who drill wells. You had people that run the watersystems: rural and urban. You had ag representation in 2-3 differentforms.Yes environmental was there and University Extension .Thenthere was a pure row crop representation, pivot system irrigationrepresentation. So we spent really that entire first meeting getting ahandle on everybody was, who they represented, what they saw asissues.”-Voluntary IMP Interviewee #3 Reed & Abdel-Monem (2015)

IMP PLANNING SUCCESSESNebraska’s collaborative approach has created socialcapital and cooperative projects continue into theimplementation phase of the plans

Creating Social Capital “The stakeholder group was a very hard working group. It turnedout to be a well selected group. Those meetings were set up forthem, very specific agendas. They were meaty issues. They wereworking on, directly on, the vision, the goals ,and having their inputinto those.”-Voluntary IMP Interviewee #1 “It was a great process. It really was. Lots of people were involved.Lots of data and information was presented.lots of really nice,thoughtful conversation on the part of different groups and peoplewho were involved. Their comments and suggestions were takenvery seriously and incorporated into the final wording of thosegoals.”-Voluntary IMP Interviewee #6 Reed & Abdel-Monem (2015)

Developing Relationships Annual MeetingsoData Sharing Project Partnerships:oNatural ResourcesDistrictsoIrrigation DistrictsoThe Department ofNatural Resources

Conjunctive Water Management Example

Summary of Excess Flow Diversions 2011, 2013 & 2015oOver 200,000 acre-feet of excess flood flowsdiverted since 2011oResulting recharge near 100,000 acre-feetoAccretions will benefit Platte River flows for manyyears into the futureoProcess in place for future successes

Conjunctive Water Management– Project Impacts Collaborative approach with groundwaterand surface water users Maintain surface water operations Meets multiple objectives Optimize water supplies Expand work to Other Basins

WRAP UPSocial Capital was Built Collaborative Efforts Continue Better prepared to address future water supply challengesand opportunities

NEBRASKA’S WATER MANAGEMENT RESOURCEProviding the sound science and support for managingNebraska’s most precious resource.THANK YOUJENNIFER J. SCHELLPEPER, M.S., IWM DIVISION HEADNebraska Department of Natural Resources402-471-2363dnr.nebraska.gov

NEBRASKA'S WATER MANAGEMENT RESOURCE Providing the sound science and support for managing Nebraska's most precious resource. WATER PLANNING IN NEBRASKA, INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND ITS SUCCESS STORIES JENNIFER J. SCHELLPEPER, M.S., IWM DIVISION HEAD . Nebraska Department of Natural Resources