Surface water and groundwater, irrigation, precipitation, threatened and endangered species and other water-related issues are all colorfully addressed on a “Nebraska Water Map,” available free from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The 24-by-36-inch map depicts a wide range of basic but important information about Nebraska’s water resources, including a great deal about one of the state’s greatest unseen resources, groundwater.
“We produced the map with the idea of raising the level of interest in basic water issues and facts for all Nebraskans,” said UNL Water Center assistant director Lorrie Benson, who led a coalition of cosponsors to publish the map.
“It combines a great deal of science-based information that has been published in other forms, making them more accessible to the public,” she said.
The poster-size map is actually a collection of more than a dozen color graphics, each depicting different aspects of the state’s water riches and challenges.
Its centerpiece is a large state map showing important water features such as rivers, major streams, lakes, canals and reservoirs. Counties, roadways, major cities and towns, and prominent topographic features are also depicted, along with Nebraska’s 23 Natural Resources Districts.
Surrounding this large map are smaller maps and graphics showing the High Plains groundwater aquifer, annual precipitation, how and where water is used in Nebraska, where registered irrigation wells are located, where groundwater nitrate and atrazine contamination can be found, how groundwater and surface water interact and other information.
“It’s a wonderful educational tool and it also looks great when you hang it on your wall,” Benson said. “With water being so very much on everyone’s mind, the vastness of Nebraska’s surface and groundwater resources and the challenges posed to both water quantity and quality, one of the biggest challenges was deciding what information we would have to leave off, since there wasn’t room for everything.”
An online version of the map, which is under construction, amplifies much of the information on the printed map, as well as presenting additional information not contained on it. It can be found at http://water.unl.edu.
“The map is just one basic Nebraska water information source available on that site, which has content from and links to all things water at UNL,” said Benson.
Print copies of the map are available first-come, first-served through the UNL School of Natural Resources Nebraska Maps and More store on the first floor of Hardin Hall, northeast corner North 33rd and Holdrege streets, UNL East Campus, Lincoln. Phone (402) 472-3471 or visit the store online at http://nebraskamaps.unl.edu.
If requesting larger quantities for educational or programmatic use, contact Benson at the UNL Water Center at 402/472-3305 or e-mail lbenson2@unl.edu.
Map cooperators are the university’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, School of Natural Resources, Extension, Water Center and Conservation and Survey Division, the U.S. Geological Survey, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Tern and Plover Conservation Partnership, The Groundwater Foundation, Nebraska Public Power District and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.