46-709. Ground water management plan; required; contents.

Each district shall maintain a ground water management plan based upon the best available information and shall submit amendments to such plan to the Director of Natural Resources for review and approval.

The plan shall include, but not be limited to, the identification to the extent possible of:

(1) Ground water supplies within the district including transmissivity, saturated thickness maps, and other ground water reservoir information, if available;

(2) Local recharge characteristics and rates from any sources, if available;

(3) Average annual precipitation and the variations within the district;

(4) Crop water needs within the district;

(5) Current ground water data-collection programs;

(6) Past, present, and potential ground water use within the district;

(7) Ground water quality concerns within the district;

(8) Proposed water conservation and supply augmentation programs for the district;

(9) The availability of supplemental water supplies, including the opportunity for ground water recharge;

(10) The opportunity to integrate and coordinate the use of water from different sources of supply;

(11) Ground water management objectives, including a proposed ground water reservoir life goal for the district. For management plans adopted or revised after July 19, 1996, the ground water management objectives may include any proposed integrated management objectives for hydrologically connected ground water and surface water supplies but a management plan does not have to be revised prior to the adoption or implementation of an integrated management plan pursuant to section 46-718 or 46-719;

(12) Existing subirrigation uses within the district;

(13) The relative economic value of different uses of ground water proposed or existing within the district; and

(14) The geographic and stratigraphic boundaries of any proposed management area.

If the expenses incurred by a district preparing or amending a ground water management plan exceed twenty-five percent of the district's current budget, the district may make application to the Nebraska Resources Development Fund for assistance.

Each district's ground water management plan shall also identify, to the extent possible, the levels and sources of ground water contamination within the district, ground water quality goals, 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 practices recommended to stabilize, reduce, and prevent the occurrence, increase, or spread of ground water contamination.

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