Lakes & Wetlands

When the Sandhills are mentioned the first thing to pop into most people's minds are the arid sand dunes, but the Nebraska Sandhills are also a region of water. Thousands of lakes and tens of thousands of wetlands are scattered throughout. They range from small ponds that dry up in the summer to reservoirs that stretch for miles.  The majority of lakes in the Sandhills are very shallow and average around 10 acres or less in area.

 

Where does all the water come from? The Nebraska Sandhills rests on top of the Ogallala Aquifer. Containing an estimated 1 billion acre/feet of water, the Ogallala is one of the largest aquifers in the world. Little of the precipatation in the Sandhills runs into streams and rivers.  Rather, most of the water percolates through the permeable sand, quickly recharging the groundwater. Lakes form in the interdunal regions of the Sandhills; wherever the land's elevation dips below the level of the water table, it is filled by groundwater. As a consequence, the number and size of lakes in the Sandhills depend upon the amount of precipitation each year.