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(Beatrice, NE) Gov. Dave Heineman received a grant for $810,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help support a cooperative water-quality protection project in the Big Blue River/Tuttle Creek Lake watershed. The watershed area extends across southeast Nebraska and parts of northeast Kansas.
"This grant recognizes more than 10 years of coordination between Nebraska and Kansas to address water quality in this watershed," Gov. Heineman said. "We talk a lot about water quantity due to the ongoing drought, but this project is an opportunity to highlight the good work being done to addresses issues of water quality. Collaboration has helped our two states achieve significant results and this grant will ensure that progress in protecting this vital natural resource continues."
Jon Scholl, counselor to the EPA administrator for agricultural policy, attended the ceremony to award the grant funding. The Tuttle Creek watershed project is one of 12 in the country to receive an EPA grant as part of the Targeted Watersheds Grant program, which helps to protect and restore the nation's most highly-valued watersheds. The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) was the lead agency in applying for the grant on behalf of more than 30 state and local partners in the two-state area involved in the project.
Tuttle Creek Lake is a 14,000-acre reservoir located in northeast Kansas. Nearly 75 percent of the reservoir's 9,600 sq. mile watershed is located upstream in Nebraska. Several streams, including both the Little and Big Blue Rivers, flow into the watershed area.
Tuttle Creek Lake is a primary source of water for the Kansas River, which supplies public drinking water for Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City. Water quality in watershed area has been affected by run-off of sediment, nutrients and chemicals from cultivated cropland and livestock waste. To improve water quality in the watershed, the project will build upon pre-existing partnerships and cost-share programs throughout the two-state region.
A major focus of the Tuttle Creek project will be the installation of conservation practices throughout the watershed. Of particular interest are no-till farming systems and riparian buffer strips, which have been shown to be cost-effective ways to reduce run-off. Landowners in the region will be encouraged to adopt these and other conservation practices in positively impact water quality in the region.
The grant also will help fund a three-year collaborative effort to promote land management practices and educational programs intended to improve water quality in the affected region. Ron Hammerschmidt of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment attended the announcement on behalf of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
Gov. Sebelius said, "Funding provided through this grant will help state and local project collaborators continue their progress toward the achievement of water quality goals for the entire watershed area."
Agencies involved in the development of the project include NDEQ, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Department of Environment and Health, the Kansas Water Office, Upper and Lower Big Blue Natural Resources Districts (NRD), Little Blue NRD, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Kansas State University among others.
More information on the Tuttle Creek watershed project is available on the NDEQ web site, http://www.deq.state.ne.us.
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