The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources will continue developing its drought contingency plan for the Upper Platte River Basin with a $200,000 grant.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will distribute the funding to help Nebraska prepare for any future droughts. The state’s two-year drought contingency plan costs $400,000, which includes data and study costs.
Jennifer Schellpeper is the water planning division manager for the state’s department of natural resources, and said the last significant drought was in 2012, but the Western part of the state regularly experiences times of drought.
“With the funding it allows us to bring in extra resources, bring in consultants to the process and move things forward faster than we might have otherwise without the grant funding,” Schellpeper said.
Schellpeper said the next steps are to get a contract in place with the bureau of reclamation and start working with stakeholders on the data and information available.