Papio NRD Water Resources Management Virtual Tour

Stop 4 - Prairie Queen Recreation Area and Reservoir

Prairie Queen Recreation Area was built as West Papillion Regional Dam Site 5 and its primary purpose is to reduce flooding along the South Papillion and West Papillion Creek. The dam stores and slowly releases flood runoff from a 5.18 sq mile watershed (SLIDE 1).

The project required 570 acres of property to create a 135 acre lake and flood pool. Construction included the relocation of a sanitary sewer, abandonment of Cornhusker Rd., completion of Lincoln Rd. to 132nd Street, two water quality basins west of the main lake,  in-lake fishery habitat , shoreline protection, and recreation facilities and access.

Total cost of the entire project was $36.5 million (SLIDE 2 fact sheet). Today, the recreation area is operated and maintained by the City of Papillion (see video SLIDE 3), while the P-MRNRD still owns and maintains the dam.

Stop 5 - Schramm Park State Recreation Area (SRA)

Schramm Park is named after Eck Frank Schramm who was a Professor Emeritus of Geology at the University of Nebraska before his passing in 1967. He had worked to set aside the over 200-acres of land for Schramm Park which includes the site of Nebraska's first fish hatchery (SLIDE 1). It is fitting that this site be named after a geologist because of the special geologic transitions which occur here and the groundwater spring that supported the fish hatchery!

The site for the park transitions from the Platte River on the south to the glaciated bluffs to the north. The bedrock unit that lies beneath the Platte River at this location is composed of limestones and shales from the Lansing or Kansas City Group of the Pennsylvanian System, laid down in the Paleozoic Era around 300 MYA. Above the Pennsylvanian system, back into the bluffs, lies sandstones and shales in the Dakota Group, created when this area was the shoreline or shelf of a Great Interior Seaway. Finally above the Dakota Group is the glacial or loess deposits that are primarily composed of silt and clay layers. It is suggested that the spring which feeds the fish hatchery ponds is created where groundwater moving through the Dakota Sandstone is pushed to the surface where the sandstone comes in contact with slightly uplifted shales and limestones near the edge of the bluff. The fish hatchery building and the canyon ponds supplied by the spring can be seen in the aerial video (SLIDE 2)

All of these geologic layers can be seen at the geologic display and outcropping at Schramm SRA. The P-MRNRD has recently been mapping the geology of southwestern Sarpy County using Airborne Electromagnetic surveys. These surveys create fairly detailed geologic cross sections as seen in SLIDE 3. Obtaining this information is crucial to understanding the groundwater resources within the glaciated area and thereby better managing groundwater supplies and groundwater quality.

Schramm SRA also offers an access point and ramp to the Platte River for tubing and non-motorized boats. You can see a ramp and canoe launch area being built in June of 2018  here . The boat launch area was heavily damaged by the March 2019 flood along the Platte River (Slide 4). Luckily, however, water levels never reached the fish hatchery museum or the brand new aquarium building at Schramm Park (Slide 5).

Stop 6 - Lied Platte River Pedestrian Bridge

Just downstream from Schramm SRA, the Lied Platte River Pedestrian Bridge is a major conversion of an existing railroad bridge into a concrete pedestrian bridge that will connect a trail between Lincoln and Omaha and allows visitors to simply experience the tranquility of being in the river without getting WET! The pedestrian bridge was completed in 2002 for a cost of approximately $3 million (see SLIDE 2).

While flood impacts by the bridge were reduced by removing some old piers and railway bridge supports, the new pedestrian bridge still faced lots of damage when the March 2019 flood passed underneath it (see SLIDE 3). Large timber and debris collected upstream of the bridge piers and collapsed some of the upstream railing along the bridge.

Following the damage, work has been completed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and other partners to remove the debris (see SLIDE 4), this includes FEMA Public Assistance funding. Additional work is underway to fully inspect the bridge and correct any other deficiencies or damage. The bridge remains closed over 1 year after the flood and will remain closed until it receives a clean bill of health!

STOP 7 - UNO TL Davis Prairie and Sandstone Outcrop

T.L. Davis Preserve is a 9 ha (22 acre) preserve that was donated to the University of Nebraska Foundation in 2005.  Overlooking the Elkhorn River and the Elkhorn/Platte River Valley (Slide 2), the T.L. Davis Preserve is situated in western Douglas County, Nebraska, generally south of Q Street and east of 245th Street. The preserve adds remnant Loess Hill Mixed-Grass Prairie, Bur Oak Savanna, and Eastern Deciduous Forest ecosystems to the Tallgrass Prairie of Glacier Creek Preserve, thereby increasing the diversity of ecosystems available through UNO for research, education, and general appreciation.

A small portion of the preserve extends into the Elkhorn River where the Elkhorn River Research Station is situated. Right along 245th Street, the UNO property also includes a large Dakota Sandstone outcrop. This location is much different compared to the outcrop at Schramm SRA because it is higher in elevation along the river valley and is completely a ~20 ft cliff of just reddish sandstone (Slide 3)

This Dakota Sandstone formation is important because it is the aquifer that supplies drinking water to approximately 10,000 people who rely on domestic wells in the uplands surrounding the Omaha Metro area. It is also the aquifer where the municipal water supply for another population of ~7,600 in Gretna and Springfield originates. Visit "Where Does My Drinking Water Come From?" to learn more!

Just downstream of this location, the Elkhorn River had significantly migrated east toward homes and 240th Street in Sarpy County sometime during the 1980s. Projects to just stabilize the riverbank with riprap and jetties were completed in the late 1990s with minimal success. Following fairly major flooding in 2010, further channel and bank erosion spurred the NRD to investigate other engineering design alternatives. The selected stabilization measure involved excavating a shallow channel where the Elkhorn River had once flowed before and then installing rock protection a the outer edges of a 300' wide channel that would be created once high flows traveled through the pilot channel. This relocated channel of the Elkhorn River has experienced numerous high water events, including the 2019 flood which caused some severe erosion but avoided any damage to existing homes and the county road.

STOP 8 - Metropolitan Utilities District Platte West Water Treatment Plant

How does drinking water get to people's homes and businesses in Omaha?

If you live in the Omaha Metropolitan Area, drinking water is likely delivered to your house through miles of pipes. All of these pipes get water from a water treatment plant. The Omaha Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD) operates three treatment plants. MUD serves water to Omaha, Bellevue, La Vista, Bennington, Ralston, Boys Town and Carter Lake as well as providing water to Waterloo. Visit this  Storymap  to learn about other local drinking water supplies.

The Platte West water treatment plant (Slide 1) receives raw water pumped from up to 42 high capacity groundwater wells along the Platte River, 5 miles away. The location of the 42 wells is protected by a  Wellhead Protection Area  (see map Slide 2)

The maximum water delivery from this water treatment plant is 100 million gallons per day (mgd), making MUD's maximum water supply from all three treatment plants 333 mgd. This is meant to provide enough water for peak demand on a very hot, dry summer day. However, the average annual daily water supply from  MUD  is around 90 mgd total from all three treatment plants.

Inside, the plant is split in two halves (south side and north side) and both halves can perform the entire drinking water treatment process (see Slide 3). At the end of the treatment process, the plant has an enormous storage tank capable of holding 15 million gallons.

STOP 9 - Zorinsky Water Quality Basin 1

Based on a Community-Based Watershed Management Plan meant to help improve the water quality in Zorinsky Lake, Zorinsky Water Quality Basin 1 (ZB 1) was constructed northwest of 204th Street (Hwy 6/31) and West Center Road (Hwy 275). In total, the watershed plan called for the construction of 4 sediment/water quality basins (see Slide 1). And as of 2020, all 4 basins have been substantially completed.

ZB1 was built by over-excavating existing soil along both sides of the tributary to Boxelder Creek (see Slides 2 and 3). This soil was placed in a downstream embankment (low hazard dam) that is controlled by a labyrinth weir. This weir allows flow after rainstorms to slowly be released through 2 openings (see Slide 4). This slow release allows sediment to fall out of suspension where it is trapped behind the embankment. If the flow of water is too great, it will safely pass over the top of the concrete weir.

After 25 years of sedimentation which occurs while the ZB1 watershed is being developed, it is expected that this project will transition into a large wetland area.