The Norfolk Rotary Club met at the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (NRD) Building, located at 1508 Square Turn Blvd, for the February 5, 2019 meeting.
Mike Sousek, NRD General Manager, gave a short presentation.
Some basic information about the Lower Elkhorn NRD:
-Covers all or part of 15 counties.
-Covers 2.5 million acres.
-Serves about 90,000 people.
-Administered by a 15-member elected board.
-Has property tax authority.
-Property tax is biggest revenue.
-Had a $10.8 million budget this year.
-State of Nebraska has 23 NRDs, which were set up by the state legislature in 1972.
-Monitors nitrate issues and tests irrigation wells. Fertilizers from commercial operations are the biggest issue pertaining to nitrates.
-Has 48 monitoring well sites in district.
-Over 5,000 water wells in district.
-Has approximately 650,000 irrigated acres of land in district.
The NRD is responsible for 12 areas of resource conservation. They are:
- Erosion prevention and control.
- Prevention of damages from flood water and sediment
- Flood prevention and control
- Soil conservation
- Water supply for any beneficial uses
- Development, management, utilization and conservation of groundwater and surface water
- Pollution control
- Solid waste disposal and sanitary drainage
- Drainage improvement and channel rectification
- Development and management of fish and wildlife habitat
- Development and management of recreational and park facilities
- Forestry and range management
The club was then given a tour of the Lower Elkhorn NRD Building.