Whether a proposed giant lake between Omaha and Lincoln is dead in the water isn't entirely clear, but no state money would be left for further studies of such a project under Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen's budget plan.

The budget plan, which calls for reduced government spending over the next two years, recommends transferring $6 million from a fund dedicated to studying the feasibility of the lake, which lawmakers originally described as rivaling Iowa's Lake Okoboji.

The lake proposal emerged in a report released in early 2022 by a special committee of the Nebraska Legislature — the Statewide Tourism and Recreational Water Access and Resources Sustainability committee, or STAR WARS. It contemplated excavating a lake of 3,600 acres or more in the flood plain along the Platte River, which was envisioned as an economic driver, pulling in tourists, creating jobs and driving real estate development.

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But in a study released in October, engineers ruled out the leading site for a proposed lake in the floodplain west of Gretna because of concerns it would impact wells serving the city of Lincoln.

Instead, the consultants identified three other potential lake sites. But rather than giving a green light to any of the three sites they identified, they suggested further study.

But Pillen said during a press conference after his State of the State address Tuesday that the state doesn't need STAR WARS concepts but instead requires a common sense focus on the state's needs. The lake proposal emerged at a time when the state had "bushel baskets and bushel baskets" of money.

The fact that the engineers' study determined the lake could impact Lincoln's water supply, he said, signaled to him that there was "nothing more to talk about."

He said there may have been other possible sites, but he wasn't informed about them. "Today, if somebody is going to talk about a big lake, it better be about water conservation and make good sense for economic development," he said.

Lake funds would dry up

State Sens. John Arch of Omaha and Robert Clements of Elmwood confirmed that if the Legislature honors Pillen's request to pull the $6 million for additional studies, it will eliminate all state contributions toward the project. The only option for the project to move forward would be if private entities covered it. Arch is the Legislature's speaker and chairman of the STAR WARS committee; Clements is chairman of the Legislature's appropriations committee.

State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, a member of the STAR WARS committee, said she suggested during a meeting of the group in early December that the study funds be put toward the $1 billion cities and towns across the state have sought to remove contaminants from drinking water.

But former State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, another committee member, may not be ready to give up quite yet.

McDonnell wrote in a Dec. 9 letter to the committee that the engineers' report verified that the proposed lake site lay within Lincoln's wellhead protection area but did not determine the specific impacts, if any, the lake would have on it.

"This evaluation was absent, leaving a critical gap in the report's findings," he wrote.

Further complicating the assessment, McDonnell added, is the ongoing and planned development of sandpits within the wellhead protection area. The study fails to address whether the proposed lake, referred to as Lake 80, poses a greater, lesser or comparable risk to the wellhead protection area compared to existing and proposed sandpits.

He also listed a number of "key questions" that he said were to have been addressed but remain unanswered, including effects of the wellfield's capacity under wet, dry and normal conditions under future scenarios and whether potential contaminants impacting water supplies differ with the lake, multiple sandpits or continued farming.

Some of the questions, which are complex, may have been partially addressed, he wrote. Comprehensive answers are needed before ruling out any proposed site, especially Lake 80.

Other proposed sites

He also wrote that he is concerned that the study not only "prematurely dismissed" Lake 80 but also proposed new locations and projects that have yet to be discussed publicly. That should be the next step.

The study was conducted by two engineering firms, Olsson and Black & Veatch, for the Lincoln Water System and the Omaha-based Metropolitan Utilities District.

While tasked with several objectives, a key goal for the firms was to determine whether a lake of such scale would impact Platte River wellfields operated by the two systems. The suggested site west of Gretna was determined "not to be a viable lake location" because it coincides directly with a portion of the Lincoln system's wellhead protection area, the surface and subsurface area surrounding a wellfield.

The other potential lake sites identified in the study were a site south of Springfield in southern Sarpy County where a roughly 2,100-acre lake could be excavated along the river and damming the Elkhorn River near Nickerson or the Salt Creek between Greenwood and Ashland to create lakes of about 4,100 acres each.

Lawmakers envisioned the lake as a public-private partnership. A separate study on the feasibility of such an arrangement found that philanthropists and real estate developers were enthusiastic about a lake project. But it, too, left some questions unanswered.

Pillen's budget also recommends transferring $65 million from the Water Recreation Enhancement Fund envisioned for marinas and other upgrades at Lake McConaughy, Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area and Niobrara State Park. According to a state budget official, that would leave about $22 million that the Nebraska Game & Parks Commission instead plans to use for campsite and road improvements in those state parks.

World-Herald staff writers Erin Bamer and Henry J. Cordes contributed to this report.

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