LINCOLN- On Tuesday, State Sen. Eliot Bostar introduced LB506, a bill that would allow the state to request federal funding to begin building a second water source for the city of Lincoln. The introduction of LB506 came just a day after Lincoln's Water Source Advisory Council issued a recommendation that Lincoln build a new municipal wellfield along the Missouri River and between Omaha and Nebraska City.

Currently, Lincoln pipes most of its water from wellfields along the Platte River near Ashland, but a new source is expected to allow Lincoln to support further population growth of up to 400,000 people and sustain the city's needs through 2075. The estimated cost of such an endeavor is expected to be around $1.4 billion, and could take between 15 and 20 years to complete. Sen. Bostar's bill specifically requests that $200 million in federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery funds be appropriated to begin the project.

The bill, if passed, would also require the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources to award a grant to the city of Lincoln by September 30th to pay for a water treatment plant. Bostar outlined that, if the bill were not to pass, the city of Lincoln would have to exercise its right to water from the Platte River, which would likely affect upstream irrigators.

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