Groundwater Data from Helicopter Flights to be Presented April 13

Last October, many residents of Northeast Nebraska may have seen a helicopter making low-level flights over areas of the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District (LENRD).

Instruments mounted below a helicopter collected and recorded geologic measurements to learn more about buried sand and gravel aquifers.  The helicopter flew lines spaced approximately three-miles apart over much of Wayne, Pierce, Madison, and Stanton Counties.  Other flight lines were on the order of 12 miles apart and covered the remainder of the LENRD.

A presentation of the groundwater data collected will be given to the public on Monday, April 13that 7:00 in the Lifelong Learning Center on the campus of Northeast Community College in Norfolk.

The LENRD, along with the Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment (ENWRA) the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) and the University of Nebraska Conservation and Survey planned and sponsored the flights.

According to Katie Cameron, coordinator of ENWRA, the flights “will improve our understanding of the available ground water resource and potential ground water/surface water connections in an area of the state made more complex by the presence of glacial deposits.”

Exploration Resources International LLC. (XRI) has processed the data and will present the report on the 13th.  Cameron added, “This technology allows for fast data acquisition, upwards of 50 miles per hour, with exploration depth down to 900 feet below the land surface from the air.”

LENRD Water Resources Manager, Rick Wozniak, said, “This is one of the techniques we are using to help us understand more about the geology and groundwater resources across the district.”