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<br />000351 <br /> <br />Dra i naqe <br /> <br />About 1,797,500 acres of land have drainage problems, of which <br />about 670,000 acres are prlmari Iy cropland requiring project-type <br />measures for sol ution. It is estimated that about S12,000,OOO (1960 <br />prices) of annual income is foregone on these acreages because drainaqe <br />measures have not been installed. <br /> <br />Water Quality Control <br /> <br />Sediment is the greatest poll utant to ~Jebraska's surface waters. <br />It arises from inade~uately protected cultivated land, overgrazed <br />grasslands, unprotected roadside cuts, unstable streambanks and gul lies, <br />and highway and bui Iding construction sites. Ag~icultural chemicals, <br />including pesticides, may be washed into surface waters along with <br />sediment. Analyses of surface waters, however, have indicated that the <br />water quality parameter most frequently violated is the col iform density <br />whiCh results from inadequate treatment of municipal, industrial, or <br />agricultural (animal) wastes. <br /> <br />Sewage collection systems have been constructed in 389 of the 468 <br />Nebraska communities (July, 1969). Three co~munities (population 1,785) <br />discharge their sewage into water courses without treatment; 46 communities <br />(pOpulation of 418,000) remove the settleable and floatable materia is; <br />and 340 communities (population 528,000) provide additional biolo~ical <br />or chemical treatment before discharge. <br /> <br />Of 563 industrial plants inventoried (1968), 408 del ivered their <br />wastes to municipal sewage systems or had faci I ities to adeouatelv treat <br />their wastes, 17 plants had treatment facil ifies under construction, and <br />nine plants needed to provide treatment. The other 129 plants, mostly <br />sand and gravel producers, were under study to determine treatment <br />needs. The rapid expansion of confined feeding of cattle is causing <br />concern among those responsible for protecting the quality of Nebraska's <br />streamf lows. f1ethods of treating feedlot wastes are under study bv the <br />University of Nebraska and the Nebraska Water Pollution Control Counci I. <br />A State Legislative Study Committee is considering the feedlot waste <br />prob I em. <br /> <br />Flood Control and Erosion Abatement <br /> <br />Floods occur frequently with a severe flood occurring some place in <br />the State nearly every year. The average annual tangible damage from <br />floods is estimated at nearly $21,000,000. About 93 percent occurs in <br />rural areas with crop and pasture flood damage amounting to over <br />$14,000,000 annually. Flood damage to urban property is estimated at <br />$1,494,000. So far, 411 waterflow control structures, 421 grade stabi- <br />lization structures, 188 miles of channel improvements, and 70 mi les <br /> <br />4 <br />