6.4.03

Board ratifies permit; approves new industrial park

The Platte West Project took a step closer to reality May 30 when M.U.D. Directors ratified General Manager Tom Wurtz's signature on the Section 404 Permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; authorized purchase of land and approved HDR Engineering, Inc., as the design consultant.

With the project under way, M.U.D. also lifted its moratorium on providing water to new developments on the western side of its service area. The community already is benefiting, said Wurtz. On June 4, the board approved water to a new industrial park in Sarpy County. That vote probably wouldn't have been possible under the moratorium, he said.

The permit lays out the conditions M.U.D. must meet to build the well field and water plant. It authorizes construction of a wellfield, transmission mains and water treatment plant, contingent upon the District complying with the terms and conditions of the agreement. The District will incur costs to meet the conditions laid out by the Corps, but no one will know for years what the full cost will be.

Under permit conditions, the District will follow mitigation and monitoring requirements for wetlands, groundwater levels, stream flows and impacts to private property. Also, M.U.D. will comply with the existing agreements with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for potential impacts to wildlife and recreational areas.

"We will manage the resource of the Platte River water and operate in an environmentally-sound manner that does not harm agricultural or recreational interests," Wurtz said. "We have a proven record of being a good neighbor at our Florence and Platte River Plants."

"On behalf of the Board of Directors and our customer-owners, we are grateful to the Corps, the EPA, our Nebraska U.S. Senators, Congressional

Representatives, State Senators, home builders associations and all other public officials for their efforts in helping to obtain the permit," said Wurtz. "We plan to move with all deliberate speed to design and build the facility as soon as possible."

"The Platte West facility will be an economic growth engine for the metro area and adjacent counties for the next 50 years," said M.U.D. Board

Chairman Mark Doyle. "Our customer-owners, current and future, can be assured we will have plenty of safe drinking water for all their residential, commercial and industrial needs."

The wellfield will be along the Platte River in Douglas and Saunders Counties. The treatment plant will be built at 216th and Q Streets. The $300 million project, designed to meet Omaha drinking water needs for the next 50 to 60 years, will take two years to design and three years to build.

The plant will be M.U.D.'s third water treatment facility, adding 100 million gallons of high quality drinking water to the existing 234 million gallons-per-day capacity.

M.U.D. provides safe drinking water to more than 176,000 customer-owners in the metro Omaha area.

Conditions M.U.D. must meet to build plant:

Pay $1.25 million to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to compensate for lost habitat needed by threatened and endangered species. Most of the money will be spent restoring a Missouri River backwater to improve habitat for the endangered pallid sturgeon.

Recognize that Lincoln has priority over Omaha for drawing water from the aquifer.

Give preference to restoring in Saunders County wetlands lost there. M.U.D. had hoped to use land it already owns in Sarpy County.

Compensate area landowners for lost water resources in accordance with Nebraska law.

Continuously monitor Platte River levels at the well field.

Pay for new monitoring wells at the nearby Mead Superfund site and pay for any costs incurred at the cleanup site as a result of M.U.D.'s activities.

Decide ahead of time, in writing, what M.U.D. would do if its computer modeling or monitoring indicates an impact on the Mead cleanup. This could mean that M.U.D. would have to revise its use of the new well field. Or it could mean that M.U.D. would have to install additional wells designed to stop the movement of contaminated water.

The utility must repair damage to the environment, compensate adjacent landowners appropriately for lost water and monitor for any impact to a nearby federal environmental cleanup.

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