{"id":33809,"date":"2023-03-14T08:28:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T14:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33809"},"modified":"2023-03-14T08:28:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T14:28:01","slug":"reverse-osmosis-funds-sought-for-private-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33809","title":{"rendered":"Reverse osmosis funds sought for private wells"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Appropriations Committee heard testimony March 13 on a bill that would provide state funds for reverse osmosis systems in rural parts of the state.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Barry DeKay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As introduced by Sen. Barry DeKay of Niobrara, LB766 would appropriate $3.25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds in fiscal year 2023-24 and FY2024-25 to the state Department of Environment and Energy for reverse osmosis system grants.<\/p>\n

DeKay said funds would be used only for private drinking water wells where a test for nitrates results in a reading of at least 10 parts per million. He brought an amendment to the hearing that would lower the appropriation to $1.625 million each year and specify that any money awarded must comply with ARPA requirements.<\/p>\n

Nebraskans \u201ccare deeply\u201d about water quality, DeKay said, especially in areas where nitrates are a significant concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill would provide a short-term solution while the Legislature and other stakeholders work to create longer-term solutions,\u201d he said. \u201cProviding safe drinking water for all Nebraskans ought to be a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Dunkley, representing the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Corn Growers, Nebraska Soybean Association, Nebraska Pork Producers Association and the Nebraska State Dairy Association, testified in favor of the proposal.<\/p>\n

The DEE grant program is the only statewide mechanism dedicated to the problem of nitrates in Nebraska drinking water, Dunkley said, a problem for which there is \u201cno simple fix.\u201d Reverse osmosis systems are the only way to address the issue, he said, but they can be expensive for homeowners, ranging from $500 to $5,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater quality is an extremely important issue and one that we have been advocating for more local, regional and state involvement on,\u201d Dunkley said.<\/p>\n

No one testified in opposition to LB766 and the committee took no immediate action on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Appropriations Committee heard testimony March 13 on a bill that would provide state funds for reverse osmosis systems in rural parts of the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[276],"class_list":["post-33809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-appropriations","tag-sen-barry-dekay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/LB766DeKay3-13-23b.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33809"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33812,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33809\/revisions\/33812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}