April 16, 2019
Nebraska groundwater levels continued to rise in the areas most affected by the 2012 drought, according to a new report from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Conservation and Survey Division. Still, some portions of the state recorded levels below those of the pre-drought years.
The annual statewide report, part of a nation-leading groundwater-monitoring program, examines short-term groundwater rises and declines measured in 5,365 regional wells from spring 2017 to spring 2018. It also looks at long-term trends since monitoring began in the 1930s.
“The one-year change maps really aren’t the ones that are the most important,” said Aaron Young, survey geologist and lead author of the report. “It’s the long-term trends that illustrate the lasting effects of both our conservation measures and our water use.”
