BLOG: Emergency Management and Drinking Water Protection Workshop

The effects of the historic flooding Nebraska experienced this spring are still being felt all these months later, and will continue to be felt into the future. A natural disaster such as this is a good opportunity to look at contingency planning for community drinking water supplies in the event of an emergency.

Image credit: Nebraska State Patrol

The Nebraska Wellhead Protection Network is hosting a workshop on the subject October 3, 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Valley Irrigation (28800 Ida Street, Valley, Nebraska) and invites you to join us. "Emergency Management and Contingency Planning to Protect Nebraska's Water Supply" will cover:

• Why having a comprehensive emergency management plan is important
• How to develop an emergency management plan
• Stories of how towns and businesses survived Nebraska's flooding this spring

The agenda includes:

• Nebraska's Changing Climate - Dr. Natalie Umphlett, High Plains Regional Climate Center
• Flooding and Debris Management - Erik Waiss, Nebraska Department of Energy and Environment
• Valmont Valley Flood 2019, a Retrospective - Bob Gillen, VP of Operations for Valley Irrigation
• Nebraska's Drinking Water Response to a Catastrophic Flood - Sue Dempsey, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services

Lunch and a tour of Valley's facilities, which were impacted by spring flooding, are generously provided by Valley Irrigation.

Join us and help your community be prepared for emergencies! Register by October 1.

Questions? Contact the Groundwater Foundation at info@groundwater.org or 402-434-2740.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Visit a Sustainability Fair}

A local branch of Fiserv, a national financial services company, held their first ever Green Day Sustainability Fair for their employees. Frannie and her friends at the Groundwater Foundation were invited to share their knowledge about our groundwater resources. Frannie met many people from local organizations that are doing good work to grow our food, save electricity, and recycle or repurpose old materials! 

Frannie shared an activity called "How Wet is Our Planet". Did you know that 70% of the Earth is made up of water?
Well, imagine all of that water could fit inside a 5-gallon bucket. Now, take a little over 1 1/2 cups, 25 tablespoons, out of the big bucket and put it into a smaller container. That represents all of the freshwater in the world.
But we don't always have easy access to freshwater. Sometimes, the water is stored inside plants or glaciers or ice caps or clouds. Have you ever tried to drink a cloud? It's pretty hard!
If we take a 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons out of the freshwater jar, that's about how much clean, fresh groundwater is available for humans to use.
If we take a little eye dropper and place 25 drops from the groundwater cup into the rivers, streams, and lakes cup, then that's how much fresh surface water in the world that humans can use.

Isn't it wonderful and weird to know that ALL of the water we use is just a fraction of the total amount of water on Earth? If we keep it clean now, we will be able to keep using it way into the future.

Have you attended a festival recently? Share your favorite activity with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! See you next time!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Protect Your Groundwater Day 2019}

Yesterday was Protect Your Groundwater Day! Everyday, we use water for cooking, drinking, cleaning, and more. Fish like Frannie call the water home.

But did you know that the groundwater we drink can be at risk for pollution and overuse? Even though Protect Your Groundwater Day is over this year, there are still many things we can do to help keep our water clean and make sure there's plenty of it for the future. Frannie wants to share an activity that will help you celebrate every day like Protect Your Groundwater Day.

You only need 2 things: a writing utensil and something you can write on!

Here's what to do:

1. Look around your home, school, or neighborhood for ways you can help save water and ways groundwater pollution can be prevented.

2. Make a checklist of all the ways you and your family can help protect groundwater. Check out the example checklist below to get started!

• Use fertilizer according to package directions.
• Take back leftover, unused, and expired medications to a pharmacy participating in the Nebraska MEDS project.
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle!
• Take hazardous waste to places where it can be properly disposed.
• Shut water off while brushing your teeth.
• Only run full loads of dishes and laundry.
• Check for leaky faucets and have them fixed.
• Water the lawn during cooler hours of day and only when the grass needs water.
• Sweep your sidewalks and driveways rather than rinsing them with water.
• Take a shower instead of a bath.
• Take short showers and use an aerator or low-flow shower head.
• Take motor oil and other household hazardous waste to a recycling or collection center.
• Use environmentally-friendly cleaners.

You can download the free water-tracking app for
Android and Apple, 30by30, to track your water use and learn even more ways you can help conserve water.

3. After you decide what activities you can do to help protect groundwater, take the groundwater pledge:

"I believe clean water is important to all things. I pledge to:

Be aware of activities that can be harmful to groundwater.

Do my part to help protect groundwater and all natural resources.

Make an effort to educate myself and others about water and ways that we can make a difference.

Let's keep it clean!"

Now share the checklists you and your friends made with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!