Across Nebraska, 118 communities have implemented wellhead protection plans to protect their water supplies from potential contamination. Communities voluntarily do this work through the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy’s Wellhead Protection Program (WHP).

Because approximately 85% of Nebraska communities receive their drinking water from groundwater, preventing groundwater contamination is vital to protect Nebraskans’ health and well-being. Through the development and implementation of a wellhead protection plan, potential sources of contamination can be managed.

Wellhead Protection involves:

1. Delineating the wellhead protection area. This is the area at the surface and underground where drinking water for a community may be sourced.
2. Conducting a potential contaminant source inventory. This identifies all the potential contaminant sources within the wellhead protection area including brownfields or superfund sites, chemical storage facilities and underground storage tanks, agricultural nonpoint source pollution, septic systems, stormwater runoff, industrial chemicals, and more.
3. Contaminant source management. The WHP assists communities to mitigate contamination by developing a wellhead protection plan and providing technical assistance regarding best management practices.
4. Contingency planning. In the case of an emergency, these plans help a community identify how to supply clean water to its residents.
5. Public education. The WHP supports the community in the planning phase by holding public information meetings and open houses to provide information about wellhead protection.

Wellhead Protection management practices include installing buffer strips; planting cover crops; practicing crop rotation; properly decommissioning abandoned wells; installing water meters and back flow prevention devices; properly storing and handling commercial and industrial chemicals; cleaning up hazardous waste and junk sites; no-till farming; managing nutrient and irrigation applications in rural and urban areas; and adopting wellhead protection ordinances within a community.

The NDEE coordinates the Wellhead Protection Network, a gathering of organizations and agencies in Nebraska working to support communities in their wellhead protection efforts. The Network began in 2001 to provide an opportunity for these partners to meet, discuss their work and identify community needs. The meetings are an opportunity for the group to learn from one another and subject matter experts about hot topics in drinking water, public health and natural resource conservation.

After a pause of activities during COVID, the Network is expanding and relaunching beginning in 2023, and will be offering collaborative workshops, interactive field days, continuing education credits, and presentations by subject matter experts.

To join the network, please contact NDEE’s Wellhead Protection Coordinator at (402) 471-2186.