The York-based Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District is reconsidering its options for controlling nitrate contamination of groundwater.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports the district's water and regulations committee will be examining the options at its Tuesday meeting.
A plan to require that farmers use nitrification inhibitors was heavily criticized at a board hearing in March. The inhibitors are chemicals that slow the rate at which the fertilizer anhydrous ammonia is broken down into nitrates.
Experts say nitrates pose health hazards when they percolate
through fields into groundwater supplies.
District manager Rod DeBuhr says the issue boils down to
encouraging practices that decrease the potential for the water
contamination. DeBuhr says requirements could follow if the
encouragement doesn't work.
