1.29.06
Proposed lake would submerge wellfields, water plants
by Algis J. Laukaitis, Lincoln Journal StarFifteen years ago, Lincoln embarked on an ambitious plan to expand its drinking water system. At the time, it was the largest public works project in the city's history and included the purchase of an island on the Platte River north of Interstate 80 and sinking two horizontal wells capable of pumping up to 35 million gallons of water a day.
The city built a bridge to the long, wooded island to maintain the giant wells and buried huge water mains under the Platte River to carry the water. It also put up a state-of-the-art water treatment plant and made improvements to existing wellfields and pipelines.
Last week, city officials got word of a proposal to dam the Platte between Lincoln and Omaha and submerge everything they have built under a lake bigger than Lake McConaughy.
Omaha Sen. Pam Brown, who introduced a bill to authorize a $3 million feasibility study of the project, says the lake would attract business and create jobs and recreational opportunities for people who live in and around Lincoln and Omaha.
The downside: The 25-mile-long lake with 145 miles of shoreline would drown the town of Ashland and surrounding homes, farms, gravel mining operations, and roads " and Lincoln's wellfields, which supply about 90 percent of the city's drinking water and represent a $1 billion investment.
Assistant Lincoln City Attorney Steve Huggenberger estimates replacing the wellfields could cost another $1 billion, depending on what areas were flooded by the dam. And then there's the problem of finding a new water source along the Platte.
"Watching the M.U.D. experience, locating a new wellfield is not an easy thing, he said.
The Omaha-based Metropolitan Utilities District struggled for years to get permits and overcome Saunders County and landowner opposition to its Platte West water treatment plant under construction upstream from Lincoln's island.
M.U.D. President Tom Wurtz estimates the utility would lose its $350 million investment if the dam and lake were built. Its water treatment plant and wellfield is being built near 216th and Q streets to meet drinking water needs of the Omaha metro area for 50 to 60 years. The project is scheduled to be completed in spring 2008.
Like Lincoln, M.U.D. would not only lose its investment, it would have to find a new place to sink wells, which could cost another $350 million or more, Wurtz said.
"I think there are so many obstacles to it ever really happening, he said.
One of the biggest hurdles may be environmental. The lower reach of the Platte River is habitat for the pallid sturgeon and least tern, both endangered species. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission also has a water right on that stretch of the river to maintain sufficient flows for wildlife habitat.
"I think it's a bad idea, said Cecil Steward, president and founder of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, a nonprofit group that has studied the corridor between Lincoln and Omaha.
"I think the investment that would be required couldn't be recovered over a current resident,s lifetime, he said. "That's just the economic side of it. From an environmental standpoint, I think it's an awful idea.
Steward said the Platte River watershed between Columbus and Plattsmouth is one of the most fragile ecosystems in the Midwest.
"At a time when the rest of the state is concerned about water flow and water apportionment, it just seems to be an idea that doesn,t account for what's going on around us, he said.
M.U.D.'s Platte South wellfield near Bellevue also would be hurt because the proposed dam would block water from flowing downstream. Wurtz noted that during the summer, when demand for water is highest, the Platte River has very little water and in some months runs dry. Most of the water that recharges Lincoln's wellfield comes from Loup and Elkhorn rivers.
And, Wurtz said, a number of other cities own water rights along the Platte. "Those wellfields need sufficient flow to recharge their aquifers.
But the biggest roadblock may be land acquisition. The lake would cover 80 square miles, or more than 50,000 acres.
"Taking development land from western Douglas County to Waverly " the dollars would be insurmountable, said Wurtz.
He noted that land was relatively cheap when Lake McConaughy was built during the late 1930s at a cost of $43 million.
Brown's office estimates the lake between Lincoln and Omaha would cost $1 billion to $3 billion.
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.
Lake talk
Ashland-area residents are invited to a town meeting on LB1121, a bill by Omaha Sen. Pam Brown that proposes a $3 million study of damming the Platte River and creating a 25-mile-long lake that would cover Ashland.
The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Ashland-Greenwood High School gym.
The Legislature's Appropriations Committee has set a public hearing on LB1121 for Feb. 6 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 1524 at the Capitol.