Water Resource Management Commons^™

Droughtscape, Winter 2008, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Now Up & On-Line:

Winter 2008 Outlook and Oct.-Dec. ’07 Summary

NDMC Experts Serve as Resource for Media

Drought Hits Ag and Urban Interests in 2007

Climatological Summary of Drought in 2007

NDMC Welcomes Data Miner Bo Zhang

New Grant Awards

The History Of The Unl Water Center From 1964, Water Center, School Of Natural Resources

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

Water is an integral part of Nebraska’s economy and well being in a state that depends on an adequate supply for all uses, including agricultural, municipal, industrial, recreational and wildlife habitat.

Nebraska is fortunate with regard to its water supply, having tremendous groundwater reserves which are estimated to be in excess of two billion acrefeet (an acre-foot being enough water to cover one acre of land with a foot of water, or approximately 325,000 gallons), combined with an estimated annual precipitation of 86 million acre-feet and annual average surface water inflows of 1.7 million acre-feet, give the state adequate supplies …

Detection, Occurrence And Fate Of Emerging Contaminants In Agricultural Environments (2008), Daniel D. Snow, Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt, Samuel E. Saunders, Shannon L. Devivo, David A. Cassada

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Agricultural settings are affected by a unique set of environmental contaminants typically associated with land use. Nutrients and sediments from run-off and erosion have historically been, and continue to be, studied and understood with respect to their impacts to aquatic environments. Studies involving newer classes of contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and steroids, are becoming more prevalent as methods for measuring these compounds become available. These “emerging” contaminants clearly have potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological or human health effects. Release of these contaminants to the environment has occurred for quite some time, but methods …

Comparison Of Total Mercury And Methylmercury Cycling At Five Sites Using The Small Watershed Approach, James B. Shanley, M. Alisa Mast, Donald H. Campbell, George R. Aiken, David P. Krabbenhoft, Randall J. Hunt, John F. Walker, Paul F. Schuster, Ann Chalmers, Brent T. Aulenbach, Norman E. Peters, Mark Marvin-Dipasquale, David W. Clow, Martin M. Shafer

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The small watershed approach is well-suited but underutilized in mercury research. We applied the small watershed approach to investigate total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in streamwater at the five diverse forested headwater catchments of the US Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program. At all sites, baseflow THg was generally less than 1 ng L^-1 and MeHg was less than 0.2 ng L^-1. THg and MeHg concentrations increased with streamflow, so export was primarily episodic. At three sites, THg and MeHg concentration and export were dominated by the particulate fraction in association with …

Occurrence And Biological Effect Of Exogenous Steroids In The Elkhorn River, Nebraska, Usa, Alan S. Kolok, Daniel D. Snow, Satomi Kohno, Marlo K. Sellin, Louis J. Guillette Jr.

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Recent studies of surface waters in North America, Japan, and Europe have reported the presence of steroidogenic agents as contaminants. The current study has three objectives: 1) to determine if steroidogenic compounds are present in the Elkhorn River, 2) to determine if sediments collected from the Elkhorn River can act as a source of steroidogenic compounds to aquatic organisms, and 3) to determine if site-specific biological effects are apparent in the hepatic gene expression of fathead minnows. Evidence was obtained using three approaches: 1) deployment of polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS), 2) deployment of caged fathead minnows, and 3) …

Water Current, Volume 39, No. 4, Fall 2007

Water Current Newsletter

Spring Seminars Tap Range of State, National Issues In 13-Lecture UNL Public Series By Steve Ress
April Water Law, Policy and Science Conference To Focus on Great Plains Water Quality Challenges
China’s water quality issues resonate at home
Meet the Faculty
Map Shows Groundwater Decline Slowed By Kelly Helm Smith
USGS Study Identifies Major Source of Nitrate in Precipitation
New Ph.D. Specialization in Applied Ecology at UNL By Tala Awada, Ph.D.
Water Resources Advisory Panel Holds October Progress Meeting By Jessica Harder and Steve Ress
Nebraska’s Top-10 Water Challenges
2007 UNL Water Colloquium & Water Sciences Laboratory Open House(Friday, Oct. …

Droughtscape, Fall 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Fall 2007 Outlook

Diverse Impacts Reported in Summer of 2007

Decadal Climate Cycles Hold Predictive Potential

Drought Experts Take Roadmap to Congress

NDMC Research Updates

Estimating Business And Residential Water Supply Interruption Losses From Catastrophic Events, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Following man-made or natural catastrophes, widespread and long-lasting disruption of lifelines can lead to economic impacts for both business and residential lifeline users. As a result, the total economic losses caused by infrastructure damage may be much higher than the value of damage to infrastructure itself. In this paper, we consider the estimation of economic impacts on businesses and residential consumers resulting from water supply disruption. The methodology we present for estimating business interruption losses assumes that marginal losses are increasing in the severity of disruption and that there may be a critical water availability cutoff below which business activity …

Droughtscape, Summer 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Summer 07 Outlook

Hayes Named Director of NDMC

NDMC & UN Plan for Drought

Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

Drought Tools Workshops Underway

U.S. Drought Monitor Forum October 10-11, 2007 Portland, Oregon

Water Current, Volume 39, No. 3, Summer 2007

Water Current Newsletter

Latest Research on Water Science, Economics and Law To Be Featured in October
Fifth Annual Water Law, Policy and Science Conference Examines Water Quality by Lorrie Benson
SUMMERSTOCK ’07
Meet the Faculty
New Thermal Imaging Camera Advances UNL Research By Steve Ress
Coop Research Unit Tracks Invasive Species By Brent Atema
Water Resources Advisory Panel Update By Jessica Harder
Nebraska Department of Natural Resources Adds Groundwater Modelers, Geohydrologist By Steve Ress
Survey Offers Public Perceptions and Attitudes about Water by Sandi Alswager Karstens
Water Initiative Helps Add Nearly a Dozen New Faculty Members
Dahab Combines UNL Research and Administration with …

Water Current, Volume 39, No. 2. Spring 2007

Water Current Newsletter

Contents

• Annual Tour Ready to Explore New Mexico’s Lower Pecos River by Steve Ress

• Sandhills Dunes May Be More Stable Than Was Thought By Brent Atema

• From the Director by Kyle D. Hoagland

• Meet the Faculty

• From Kitchen to Countries: A Profile of the Groundwater Foundation By Susan S. Seacrest

• NIWR Members Gather for Annual Washington D.C. Conference by Lorrie Benson

• Is Water Property? By Sandra B. Zellmer and Jessica Harder

• Fourth Annual UNL Water Law, Policy and Science Conference Embassy Suites, Hotel, Lincoln “The Future of Water Use in Agriculture”

• …

The Influence Of Grazing Systems On Grassland Bird Density, Productivity, And Species Richness On Private Rangeland In The Nebraska Sandhills, Silka Lori Finkbeiner Kempema

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Conservation And Beneficial Functions Of Grassland Birds In Agroecosystems, Andrea Victoria Hanson

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

No abstract provided.

Droughtscape, Spring 2007, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

2007 Spring Drought Outlook & Winter Summary

VegDRI Expands to 15 States, Refines Views

DroughtScape

State Spotlight: Utah

International Panel Foresees Drought as Part of Climate Change

NIDIS Portal Advancing

Extensions Of Local Domains With Trivial Generic Fiber, William Heinzer, Christel Rotthaus, Sylvia Wiegand

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

We consider injective local maps from a local domain R to a local domain S such that the generic fiber of the inclusion map R -> S is trivial, that is P R (0) for every nonzero prime ideal P of S. We present several examples of injective local maps involving power series that have or fail to have this property. For an extension R -> S having this property, we give some results on the dimension of S; in some cases we show dim S = 2 and in some cases dim S = 1.

Water Current, Volume 39, No. 1. Winter 2007

Water Current Newsletter

Contents

• Future of Water Use in Agriculture Topic of Fourth Annual Water Law, Policy and Science Conference by Steve Ress

• June Water Tour to New Mexico Compares Republican and Pecos River Compacts By Steve Ress

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• EPAGrant Helps Researchers Study Feedlot Waste Impacts by Steve Ress

• Lawmakers Get Briefings on Top Water Issues by Jessica Harder

• UNL Hosts Biofuels and Water Resources Retreat By Steve Ress

• Fish and Wildlife Coop Supports Students, Lends Assistance by Brent Atema

• UNL Land Purchase Will Help Farmers and Ranchers Deal …

Enhancing The Detection And Classification Of Coral Reef And Associated Benthic Habitats: A Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Approach, Deepak R. Mishra, Sunil Narumalani, Donald Rundquist, Merlin P. Lawson, R. Perk

Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies: Publications

Coral reefs and associated benthic habitats are heterogeneous in nature. A remote sensor designed to discriminate these environments requires a high number of narrow, properly placed bands which are not currently available in existing satellite sensors. Optical hyperspectral sensors mounted on aerial platforms seem to be appropriate for overcoming the lack of both high spectral and spatial resolution of satellite sensors. This research presents results of an innovative coral reef application by such a sensor. Using hyperspectral Airborne Imaging Spectroradiometer for Applications (AISA) Eagle data, the approach presented solves the confounding influence of water column attenuation on substrate reflectance on …

Agricultural Climatology, Kenneth G. Hubbard

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

With the diversification of the U.S. economy over the past century, agriculture has changed. We can say the farm sizes have increased over time, the number of farmers and those employed in farming have decreased over time, and as the economy has grown the relative contribution of agriculture to the total economy has decreased due to growth in other sectors. The farm prices have not changed significantly over many years while costs for energy, machinery, and land have generally increased. The combination of these factors has generally narrowed the profit margin and the highest productivity will no longer ensure the …

Droughtscape, Winter 2007, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Subscribe Now!

Policy Update: NIDIS is Law. What’s Next?

What Would You Like to See?

TX, OK, Plains, Southwest Hardest Hit in 2006

Climatologically Speaking, How Bad Was It?

State Spotlight: Arizona

Drought Decision-Support Tools Evolving

Climate-Induced Forest Dieback As An Emergent Global Phenomenon, Craig Allen, David D. Breshears

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

An organized oral session at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in San Jose, Calif., posed this question: Is climate-induced drought stress triggering increasing rates and unusual patterns of forest die-off at a global scale? Twenty-nine researchers representing five continents reported on patterns, mechanisms, and projections of forest mortality.

A Long-Term Perspective On Drought In The Great Plains And West, Sherilyn C. Fritz

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Management of water resources requires an understanding of the full range of natural variability and its consequences. The weather record, which spans the last 100 years or so, provides a snapshot of the contemporary history of drought and its impacts, but this record is relatively short and is inadequate for understanding long-term trends or for evaluating the magnitude of human impacts. A variety of so-called paleoclimatic records - such as tree rings, lake sediments, and sand dunes - record the history of the environment and can be used to extend the record of climatic variation to older intervals of time. …

The Republican, The Platte And Pumpkin Creek: Current Nebraska Water Policy Issues, J. David Aiken

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Potential conflicts between surface water users and ground water users are posing perplexing challenges to Nebraska policy makers. Surface water law is the rule of priority, "first in time is first in right," as administered by the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Ground water is primarily the rule of correlative rights, as administered by local natural resources districts (NRDs). Traditionally ground water irrigators have been subject to few restrictions on drilling new wells or how much water could be used (except in the Upper Republican NRD in southwest Nebraska). Now the DNR can ban new wells in overappropriated and …

Water As Property, Sandi Zellmer

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

The issue of whether water is or should be characterized as property under the law raises considerable controversy. In the western United States, water is typically viewed as a form of property, while in the east it is not. Whether water should be treated as property has been the subject of an extensive body of scholarship. Proponents argue that establishing legally protected, secure private property rights encourages maximum utilization of resources. Also, exclusivity and surety of possession can foster wise investment of labor and stewardship. Conversely, the absence of legally protected interests in property ownership can result in a “tragedy …

The Public Interest Test For Water Appropriations, Sandi Zellmer

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

Nebraska, like most states, imposes a “public interest” review on applications for water appropriations, changes and transfers. However, Nebraska statutes do not provide any specific public interest criteria for use in evaluating applications for new water appropriations or intra-basin transfers. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 46-234, an application for a water appropriation may be refused when denial is demanded by the public interest. The director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has the duty of determining whether the public interest demands the denial of a water appropriation, but is given no express statutory criteria to provide assistance in making …

Instream Flow Legislation, Sandi Zellmer

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

In the west, state law historically considered water left in the stream to be wasted. Western states, which rely heavily on diversions to meet their water needs, have encouraged full appropriation of rivers and streams. In many cases, however, diversions have resulted in the depletion of stream flow reliant ecosystems and adversely affected fish, wildlife, recreation and river navigation.

A comparison of Nebraska law to the water law of other western states demonstrates that Nebraska’s existing instream flow legislation is quite narrow. Nebraska statutes impose a variety of restrictions on instream flow appropriations, many of which are unique and even …

Water Current, Volume 38, No. 4. Fall 2006

Water Current Newsletter

Contents
• ECONorthwest Says Nebraska Environment as Economic Engine Could Use Jump-Start by Steve Ress
• Future of Water Use in Agriculture
• From the Director -- Kyle D. Hoagland
• Meet the Faculty: Aris A. Holz, Mark A. Pegg,
• Grant Will Help UNL Refine Irrigation Management Tool by Dan Moser
• USGS Releases Findings on Domestic Well Water
• UNL Faculty Respond to Advisory Panel State Research Priorities by Jessica Harder
• Water Resources Advisory Panel Priorities
• Taking Drought Preparedness Messages to Congress by Kelly Helm Smith
• 2006 Water Colloquium Attracts Nearly 200 by Lorrie Benson …

Occurrence Of Sulfonamide Antimicrobials In Private Water Wells In Washington County, Idaho, Usa, Angela L. Batt, Daniel D. Snow, Diana S. Aga

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

County (Weiser, Idaho) were collected to assess the impact of a nearby confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) on the quality of the local groundwater. All six samples were found contaminated by two veterinary antimicrobials, sulfamethazine (at concentrations from 0.076 to 0.22 μg/l) and sulfadimethoxine (at concentrations from 0.046 to 0.068 μg/l). These groundwater samples also contained elevated concentrations of nitrate and ammonium. Three of the sampled wells have nitrate levels that exceeded the maximum contaminant level set by the US Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water, with nitrate concentration as high as 39.1 mg/l. All but one well showed nitrate, …

Water Current, Volume 38, No. 3. Summer 2006

Water Current Newsletter

• Fall Colloquium Features Research, Programming By Lorrie Benson

• Seeing Toxic Algae Before it Blooms by Steve Ress

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• UNL Forms Public Water Resources Advisory Panel

• Atema Joins Water Center as Student Worker

• Hardin Hall Rededicated; SNR Moves In

• Potential For Algae Blooms Continues; Test Kits Available From UNL Extension by Steve Ress

• Harder, NRDs Identify Research Needs

• 2006 Water and Natural Resources Tour

• Water News Briefs

• Internships Through the Water Resources Research Initiative

• UNL’s Jess Notes Lists Creative Uses for Instate and …

On The Spatial Nature Of The Groundwater Pumping Externality, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Most existing economic analyses of optimal groundwater management use single-cell aquifer models, which assume that an aquifer responds uniformly and instantly to ground- water pumping. This paper demonstrates how spatially explicit aquifer response equations from the water resources engineering literature may be embedded in a general economic framework. Calibration of our theoretical model to published economic studies of spe- cific aquifers demonstrates that, by averaging basin drawdown across the entire resource, existing studies generally understate the magnitude of the groundwater pumping external- ity relative to spatially explicit models. For the aquifers studied, the drawdown predicted by single- cell models may …

Water Current, Volume 38, No. 2. Spring 2006

Water Current Newsletter

Contents

• July Water and Natural Resources Tour To Look at Missouri River and Northeast Nebraska by Steve Ress

• Adaptive Management Sees Resilience, Uncertainty as Allies; Third Annual Conference Looks at Innovation in Water Management by Charles Flowerday

• From the Director

• Meet the Faculty

• Great Plains CESU Funding Assistance For UNL Nears $1 Million by Steve Ress

• Two Join Staff of Water Center and Water Resources Research Initiative

• Water Quality Improvement Grant for Papillion Creek Watershed by Steve Ress

• Managing Drought and Water Scarcity in Vulnerable Environments: Creating a Roadmap for Change in …