Water Resources

Platte River aerial view

Register Now for the 2022 Platte River Basin Conference and 3rd Playa

October 11, 2022
This year's conference will highlight education and discussion on cultural, agricultural and research-focused aspects of the river basin with featured speakers from Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming, and includes virtual options for viewing.

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Irrigation systems aerial view
Figure 1. Center pivot irrigation systems dot the landscape along the South Platte River. On the North Platte River, Lake McConaughy reservoir stores water which is later used for irrigation. (Photo credit: Google Earth)

New Article Traces Aspects of the History of Irrigation in the Great Plains and Water Productivity

March 23, 2022
A review of the history of irrigation in the Great Plains region from a geographical, technical and political perspective, as well as how it has impacted water resources.

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Irrigation canal
CropWatch file photo

Water Supply, Weather Updates at the Yonts Water Conference April 12 in Gering

March 22, 2022
This year's conference will feature irrigation water and weather outlooks for the 2022 growing season, as well as irrigation research updates and a meet-and-greet with irrigation district representatives.

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Hard red spring wheat field
Hard red spring wheat grown at the Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center, Grant, Nebraska in 2021.

Hard Red Spring Wheat Water Use

March 9, 2022
This study looked at water consumption (evapotranspiration), productivity and protein content of hard red spring wheat, a viable option when winter wheat experiences injury or low productivity.

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burned trees from the Mullen fire in Wyoming

Mullen and Cameron Peak Wildfires and Their Potential Effect on Nebraska Ag

November 12, 2020
The wild fires that took place late this summer and early fall, located in Colorado and Wyoming, are almost completely controlled, but they still might affect agriculture throughout Nebraska during the next growing season and for years to come.

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Aaron Mittelstet, Troy Gilmore, Mikaela Cherry and Didier Gatsmana sampling groundwater
From left, Aaron Mittelstet, Troy Gilmore, Mikaela Cherry and Didier Gatsmana sample groundwater in the Little Blue Natural Resources District near Hastings in July 2018. A recent study from Cherry, doctoral candidate in the School of Natural Resources, and colleagues found that winter precipitation reloads most of the state’s groundwater supply. (Courtesy photo/Sydney Corcoran)

New Research Shows When Nebraska’s Groundwater Supply Recharges

May 28, 2020
When it rains, and even when it pours and floods like it did in Nebraska in late 2018 and through much of 2019, the precipitation that hits the surface doesn’t always factor in to recharging the state’s vast and vital groundwater supply. So when does it most often happen?

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irrigation canal in western Nebraska

2020 Yonts Water Conference Available Online

April 13, 2020
While conceived as a daylong event in Gering, the conference was moved online due to social distancing concerns. Conference presentations about water in the North Platte Valley of western Nebraska are now online.

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Cover of the UNL IANR Growing magazine

IANR's Growing Focuses on Water Stewardship, Research

November 30, 2018
The fall 2018 issue of IANR's Growing magazine focuses on water stewardship, Nebraska's long history of irrigation development, and a new study of potential links between irrigation, cloud formation, and rainfall.

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