NRD Well Program Reaches Milestone
The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District (NRD) has helped landowners decommission 1,000 wells.
Tim and Dawn Powell, of Powell Properties and Management LLC, of Malcolm, recently had a licensed contractor decommission (fill and seal) an unused well on property the company owns in Malcolm. The NRD sent its 1,000th decommissioning reimbursement check to Powell Properties in February.
The NRD has been averaging 37 such cost-share payments to district landowners each year, since its Well Decommissioning Program began in October of 1990. Under the program, landowners hire a licensed contractor to complete the decommissioning, and the NRD reimburses landowners year-round.
If a well is abandoned without being properly decommissioned, any contaminants that get into the well go directly into the aquifer. Decommissioning also includes cutting well casings off below ground level, protecting people and animals from injuries.
Landowners with wells on their land they no longer intend to use should contact the NRD, in Lincoln, at 402-476-2729.
