BLOG: Groundwater Foundation Participates in Nitrate Strategy Meeting

Leaders from across Nebraska looked at new ways to approach an old challenge at a Jan. 21 nitrate strategy meeting facilitated by Crystal Powers of Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, the Nebraska Water Center (NWC) and Nebraska Extension, and Katie Pekarek of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) School of Natural Resources and Nebraska Extension.

Participants, including the Groundwater Foundation's Jane Griffin, worked to develop short-term priorities to improve nitrate-water quality issues. These include:

• Build trust and promote pride in Nebraska’s water resources
• Education (K-12, producer, policy makers, urban)
• Policy (incentives, education, regulation)
• Develop alternative markets for low-N cropping systems

Participants identified nine working groups to achieve the above objectives and committed to the 5-year goal of improving nitrate water quality issues in Nebraska. Participants broadly committed staff time, money, and other resources to working groups which will be convened in the coming months.

More than 40 participants included representatives from DWFI, NWC, 12 Natural Resources Districts, the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts, Nebraska Game & Parks, U.S. Geological Society, National Resources Conservation Service, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Administration, Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, University of Nebraska Foundation, Shell Creek Watershed Group, GC Resolve, Nature Conservancy of Nebraska, Nebraska Sierra Club, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Groundwater Foundation, and growers.

For more information, visit https://waterforfood.nebraska.edu/.

BLOG: 30 Years and 30,000 Students

by Marcia Lee, Central Platte Natural Resources District

In 2004, Groundwater Foundation staff approached the Central Platte Natural Resources District (CPNRD) about handing over their flagship youth event—the state’s first Children’s Groundwater Festival, which had been held in Grand Island, Nebraska since it began in 1989.

The CPNRD staff was excited to take on the challenge. In 2005, the Foundation and the NRD co-coordinated the event for a smooth transition. CPNRD staff Kelly Cole, programs coordinator, and Marcia Lee, information/education specialist, have been coordinating it ever since.

“That first year on our own we were both eager and nervous about taking on a statewide event,” said Lee. “The guidance we received from the Foundation assured that everything went smoothly.”

This May marked the 30th year that the festival has brought professionals together to teach youth about all aspects of groundwater. Lee said over the 30 years, the message students take in has remained the same—groundwater is a precious resource and we all have a part in protecting and preserving it.

Over 30,000 students from across the state of Nebraska have attended the Festival over the years. The festival model has been replicated in 42 states in the United States, and in Mexico, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. At the Nebraska festival, students participate in 25-minute in-depth classroom activities and a stage show that relate to groundwater. Professionals from state and local agencies, environmental organizations, and other volunteers teach about groundwater interactions with surface water and effects of pumping, the Ogallala aquifer, pollinators, stream flows, wetlands, pollution, drinking water, recycling, wastewater, industry use, the water cycle, water filtration, municipal systems, and more.

Festival coordinators set each school’s schedule, placing the students in six different activity topics, where various they learn about their topic through fun hands-on activities, games, and relay races.

Teachers are provided a pretest to give to their students prior to attending the festival and then a post-test following the event. “We’ve found that students retain information better when they are  personally involved in the activities, so we encourage every presenter to make their activity
interactive,” Lee said.

Cole said a few changes have been made over the years. The first was to rename the event the Nebraska Children’s Groundwater Festival and partner with the Grand Island Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The Festival Committee reaches out to businesses and individuals each year for donations to cover equipment, materials, and sack lunches provided to students, teachers, presenters, and volunteers beyond the $10,000 that the CPNRD budgets annually for the festival.

A change that will take effect in 2020 is the shift from inviting both fourth and fifth grade students to only fifth grade. The Festival Committee worked with the Nebraska Department of Education to determine which grade-level best fit the Festival with the new science standards, and determined that the festival correlates with fifth grade curriculum. The change will also allow schools to be on an every-other-year rotating invitation.

The festival’s location is also a vital aspect to the number of schools that can attend. Since its inception, the festival has been held in Grand Island, which is a central location for most schools in the state.

“We’re so fortunate to have Central Community College and College Park as partners,” said Cole. “They’ve allowed us to take over their campuses to hold the festival at no cost for 30 years.”

A good indicator that the festival is successful are the evaluations that are returned each year. Teachers, presenters, and volunteers are encouraged to complete evaluation forms to help the coordinators make improvements each year.

Even better indicators are letters from college students. The CPNRD has received several letters from former students who say they appreciate the opportunity to attend the festival as elementary students and that it opened their eyes to their career path.

“It’s incredibly rewarding when we receive those letters,” Lee said. “It’s gratifying to know that the Nebraska Children’s Groundwater Festival has made a personal impact on someone’s life and that they share the same devotion to groundwater that we do.”

Cole and Lee say the event seems to get easier each year and they don’t lose as much sleep as that first year. The hard work is worth it, and they hope the Nebraska Children’s Groundwater Festival continues to impact students— at least another 30,000 Nebraska youth over the next 30 years.

For more information about the Nebraska Children’s Groundwater Festival, visit www.cpnrd.org/groundwater-festival.

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Girl Scout Groundwater Patches}

National Groundwater Awareness Week is coming up next month, March 11-16th. One way Girl Scout troops can celebrate is by earning the Girl Scout Groundwater Patches! There are patches and guide books for every grade level so you can keep learning more about groundwater, the water we drink and the water that grows our food.

To earn your “Ask Me About Groundwater” patch, all you need to do is complete two activities from different steps within the booklet. These steps can include anything from upcycled crafts to meeting with water professionals or even conducting your own experiments. Seem too easy? Show everyone that you’re a groundwater expert by completing more activities listed in the book and earn the “Let’s Keep It Clean” patch!

Girl Scout Troop 20605 from the Spirit of Nebraska Council earned their Brownie level groundwater patches while exploring the “WOW!: Wonders of Water” Journey. You can read more about their story or start your own water journey by finding your patch booklet on the Groundwater Foundation's website!

Don't forget to share your progress with Frannie on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Good luck!

BLOG: Groundwater Perspectives: Part 2

by Bob Swanson, Retired Director, USGS Nebraska Water Science Center

I promised my perspectives on the Groundwater Foundation at the end of the first installment of this blog. It is surprising to realize that relationship is measured in decades.

Attendees at the 1990 Children's Groundwater Festival

To begin with, I was wrong. Not all the time, but certainly at key turns in my journey with the Groundwater Foundation. I first encountered Groundwater Foundation, like many Nebraskans, at the Children’s Groundwater Festival. I don’t remember if it was the 1989 or 1990 Festival, but I was participating with the Nebraska USGS team and thinking that this would be like our usual outreach events. That would be 10-30 participants for a class, a Scouting group, or other organizations. I was totally unprepared for the Festival that would eventually be replicated at over 40 other locations. It was usually difficult to get students enthused about science, in general, and groundwater, in particular.

I was wrong. Hundreds of students went through presentations all day long. They were excited. They had fun. They were engaged. That certainly wasn’t my last Festival and I was never surprised by the enthusiasm of a Children’s Groundwater Festival again.

Participants at an artesian spring at Groundwater University in 1995.

Fast forward a few years and I was participating as faculty in Groundwater University while stationed at North Platte, Nebraska. The idea of dedicating a week of time to accompany teens wasn’t foreign. I did that pretty often with my son’s Boy Scouts Troop. However, making the jump from one-day festival to week-long full immersion (pun intended) experience. That, I thought, was well too deep to pump and I selfishly wondered if I’d be bored that week. Wrong again.

The team of faculty, volunteers, and staff that Groundwater Foundation assembled for Groundwater University created an experience that few actual university students were receiving at the time. I found a kinship in the common interest, learned more than I thought possible, and came away refreshed instead of exhausted.

Bob Swanson receives the USGS Groundwater Guardian plaque in 2008.

North Platte was also my first experience with a Groundwater Guardian Community. My USGS Science Center was an affiliate, but I was involved with the community team in North Platte. I’d belonged to a few community-based volunteer groups in the past and my initial thought was that none of them produced much more than a membership card and I fully expected to pay my dues and read the newsletter. I reluctantly admit that I was wrong, yet again. I was introduced to those Results Oriented Activities (ROA) and found we had to actually do good things and proved that we did them. Imagine that....productivity and accountability.

Following a few years in a location without Groundwater Foundation interaction and upon accepting the position of Director of the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center I found myself involved in an early tradition of the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center and the Groundwater Foundation. One of my duties, as Director, was to visit Congressional staff and report on the activities of my Center. Early in Groundwater Foundation’s history, Susan Seacrest, founding President of the Groundwater Foundation, began accompanying the Center Director on those visits to leverage interest in groundwater science and to visit with leadership at our national headquarters. Jane Griffin continued that tradition when she became President of Groundwater Foundation. I would prepare to try to communicate in a 10-15 minute period the progress of the previous year’s science activities for a USGS Science Center. I could only focus on so many things. It seemed inevitable that I would pick projects and programs that the Congressional staff already understood. Susan and Jane have an innate insight into people and I found myself always focusing on the science. They would always point out the projects that connected critically with the people that the Congressional staff represented. Now maybe I wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t focusing on the right thing and Groundwater Foundation helped me to learn that lesson. I found that insight to be invaluable. That leaves me proud to be wrong.

One last observation is that I never met a Groundwater Foundation employee that I wouldn’t count as a friend. Thanks, Groundwater Foundation.

Next time...Perspectives on data.

__________

Robert Swanson was Director of the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center (NEWSC) from 2004 until his retirement in 2017. The NEWSC has 40 dedicated water science professionals, support personnel, and students and offices in Lincoln and North Platte, Nebraska. He oversaw a science program that is managed through two sections, Hydrologic Surveillance and Hydrologic investigations. The USGS operates over 130 streamgaging stations, about 70 continuous groundwater recorders, and compiles ground-water levels for over 5,000 wells in Nebraska.  

Prior to 2004, he gained a wide range of experience in the Hydrologic Surveillance (Data) Section as a hydrologic technician and hydrologist in the Lincoln, Cambridge, Ord, and North Platte Field Offices. He served as field hydrologist for the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program's Central Nebraska River (CNBR) Basins Study Unit research team and later as CNBR Study Unit Chief.  From 1999 to 2004, Bob was assigned to the USGS Wyoming Water Science Center as the Chief of Hydrologic Surveillance. He has also been Acting Director for both the Iowa and Missouri Water Science Centers. He has served on numerous committees for the advancement of science and technology in the USGS, as well as business practice committees.

BLOG: Groundwater Perspectives - Part 1

by Robert Swanson, retired Director, USGS Nebraska Water Science Center

Bob Swanson speaks at the 2017 Groundwater Foundation
National Conference.

When Jennifer Wemhoff from the Groundwater Foundation asked if I would write a blog, I thought, “This is it, I’ve made it.....I’m old!” And, yes, I just retired from a 38-year career in hydrology with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), so I guess the thought was warranted. 

As the title suggests, this is first of a series that I hope to inform the members and followers of the Groundwater Foundation on different perspectives of how groundwater has influenced my life and career.

I can even take my connection to groundwater a couple of decades further back to predate my employment at the USGS. Like the vast majority of Nebraskans, my family drank water from a domestic well and our livestock drank water supplied by windmills. However, one of my earliest memories is watching our brand new irrigation well being drilled in the early 1960s on the family farm. The first time that propane powered engine roared to life, began pulling 600 gallons per minute from the Red Willow Creek alluvial aquifer, and flowed through gated pipe and irrigation ditches was in every way a miracle to me. That well sits within a few hundred yards of the outcrop of the Ogallala formation, part of the High Plains regional aquifer system that spans parts of eight states in the Great Plains.

Irrigation didn’t make our lives any easier, just the opposite. We didn’t have a center pivot that a person could simply throw a switch and effortlessly irrigate 160 acres. No, we owned about a quarter mile of 8-inch aluminum pipe. We picked it up in the morning, loaded it onto a wagon and moved it to one of a half dozen fields in the 80 odd acres we had under irrigation. We irrigated that field through the day and night, perhaps longer if it was a large field, and the next day we repeated the task. Then the whole orchestrated routine began all over again...four, sometimes fives times during the summer. It was backbreaking work in which the entire family took part. Once the pipe was laid at the edge of the field, we would open, or set, the gates to distribute cold, clean, water to thirsty corn, milo, soybeans, and alfalfa. Our hands would be touching that water, our bare feet sank in the cool mud. My brother and sisters and I would crawl down, to us, endless rows of water flowing under a canopy of green to the other end of the field looking for and plugging gopher holes that intercepted the water from intended purpose. Yes, I have a connection to groundwater.

Irrigation didn’t make us significantly wealthier. It did, however, save us from the unpredictable and harsh penalties that drought visits on farms in the Great Plains. It helped alleviate the perpetual boom and bust crop cycles. Irrigation arguably allowed for me to go to college to pursue a career in hydrogeology. In fact, all four of the Swanson kids would attend college and become the first of our family name, that immigrated from Sweden, to do so.

Years later, my father would voluntarily retire that irrigation well as groundwater declines in our corner of Nebraska necessitated sacrifices to maintain water levels. Much of the earth that once produced grains and hay has been fallowed and returned to grassland. It remains, however, that my family and I literally owe our lives to the magic that resides in water. 

So, now you have an idea of the appreciation and reverence for which I hold this resource and what provides the backstory for future installments of this series. Next up...my relationship to the Groundwater Foundation and how it shaped a life dedicated to the study of water.

__________

Robert Swanson was Director of the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center (NEWSC) from 2004 until his retirement in 2017. The NEWSC has 40 dedicated water science professionals, support personnel, and students and offices in Lincoln and North Platte, Nebraska. He oversaw a science program that is managed through two sections, Hydrologic Surveillance and Hydrologic investigations. The USGS operates over 130 streamgaging stations, about 70 continuous groundwater recorders, and compiles ground-water levels for over 5,000 wells in Nebraska.  

Prior to 2004, he gained a wide range of experience in the Hydrologic Surveillance (Data) Section as a hydrologic technician and hydrologist in the Lincoln, Cambridge, Ord, and North Platte Field Offices. He served as field hydrologist for the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program's Central Nebraska River (CNBR) Basins Study Unit research team and later as CNBR Study Unit Chief.  From 1999 to 2004, Bob was assigned to the USGS Wyoming Water Science Center as the Chief of Hydrologic Surveillance. He has also been Acting Director for both the Iowa and Missouri Water Science Centers. He has served on numerous committees for the advancement of science and technology in the USGS, as well as business practice committees.

BLOG: Nebraska Groundwater Guru Joins Foundation Board

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

Jim Goeke at the Platte River near North Platte, 2002

Jim Goeke said he always knew he wanted to be a scientist, but when asked why he chose hydrogeology, his answer was "Thirst." Fall football practices and games throughout high school and college made him appreciate the countless bottles of water needed to sustain him. 

Years later, Jim would become one of the foremost experts on Nebraska's groundwater. He was part of the founding of The Groundwater Foundation in 1985, and last week was elected to the Foundation's board of directors.

"The Groundwater Foundation is thrilled to have Jim on our board," said Groundwater Foundation President Jane Griffin. "As a hydrogeologist, His vast groundwater knowledge, expertise, and experience will be invaluable to the Foundation's mission."

Jim joined the University of Nebraska in 1970, after earning a Bachelors Degree from the University of Wisconsin and Masters Degree from Colorado State University. As a University of Nebraska professor and proud member of the University's Conservation and Survey Division (CSD, the state's geological, water, and soil survey), Jim was responsible for the CSD/U.S. Geological Survey test hole drilling program to delineate the Ogallala Aquifer. Over 1,100 test holes later, he has an intimate familiarity with the Ogallala formation and its water riches. 

According to his biography from the University's School of Natural Resources, Jim's main research interests dealt with groundwater and groundwater management, particularly under conditions of scarcity. He worked to gather data to model unconfined aquifers in the central Platte region and stream-aquifer research in the Republican River Valley. He served as the University's liaison to the Nebraska Well Drillers Association, and worked with USGS on the High Plains Regional Aquifer System Analysis (RASA) and the High Plains National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA). 

Jim retired from the University in 2011 and became a professor emeritus.

Jim has been active in education and outreach, given countless presentations about Nebraska's groundwater to schools and community groups, and has a long history of involvement with The Groundwater Foundation. In 2001, he received the Maurice Kremer Groundwater Achievement Award from The Groundwater Foundation, among his many accolades.