Using High Resolution, High Accuracy Topography Data to Improve Water Management on the High Plains Aquifer

The Nebraska GIS Council has been on a decade long mission to collect and employ discrete return topographic LiDAR in Nebraska for a variety of purposes, including water management decision-making. Nebraska will soon deploy select LiDAR deliverables publicly, and is helping farmers, researchers and regulators utilize gathered LiDAR data to promote effective management of Nebraska’s water resources. This talk explores select case studies within the High Plains Aquifer of Nebraska where LiDAR-derived topography is being utilized to improve water management decisions. Selected studies include examples where: agricultural water research is improved by defining sub-parcel scale watersheds that can be used to better interpret and understand the results of scientific studies, irrigation of crops is improved by mapping slope at high spatial resolution that when combined with other data, improves irrigation effectiveness and can help minimize groundwater pumping and mitigate input costs, and integrated water management decisions are improved by helping to better observe and understand likely consequences of water management decisions on ranching operations.