Cattle Center Trader  reports that a central Nebraska feedlot will pay $110,000 for allowing cattle waste to flow into the Platte River on several occasions between 2005 and June 2008 when heavy ran fell.

According to the Associated Press, the Nebraska U.S. Attorney’s office says Robb Feedyard pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay the fines and penalties. The feedlot is located near Doniphan.

Prosecutors say the feedlot was ordered in 2005 to build something to control livestock waste and prevent the waste from reaching the Platte River. The waste-control measures weren’t completed until late 2008.

Robb Feedyard will pay a $75,000 federal fine, a $15,000 state penalty, and the feedlot will contribute $20,000 to the Nebraska Attorney General’s environmental protection fund.

During those periods, central Nebraska saw both record rainfall and flooding following nearly a decade of drought.

According to the National Weather Service, two of the top 10 weather events of the last decade involved flooding.

Between May and June of 2008,  thunderstorms, day after day, produced widespread heavy rainfall, which saturated the ground and caused areas of flooding. Three day rainfall totals from May 22-24 ranged from more than 3 inches to over 7 inches across much of central Nebraska.

The rain weather continued into June which exacerbated the flood conditions. June 4th brought another significant heavy rain event of 4-7 inches, with the heaviest rain falling in portions of Polk, Merrick, Nance and Howard Counties.

The 28 day stretch from May 9 through June 5 broke records for being the wettest period in Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney. On May 11, 2005, thunderstorms ravaged a large part of south central Nebraska with Wood River recording more than 11 inches of rain.

The city of Grand Island set a rainfall record for a since event with 7.21 inches of rain. The National Weather Service said tha statistically this event was a 100 year rain and flood event for the area. The Wood River near Alda, which the National Weather Service said had been dry for three years, tied a record river crest of 12.2 feet early in the morning on May 12.  Flood damage was in the tens of millions of dollars, with 12-15 million dollars occurring in Hall County alone.

Prior to these record rain events,  drought conditions, that developed late in the 1990s, persisted through more than half of the first decade of 2000. Causing the Platte River to dry up in the summers of 2002 and 2003. The Wood River, which had record flooding in May 2005, had extremely low flows during that drought period.