Rain Water Basin, Nebraska (NE), United States

Facts & Statistics
Place Name	Rain Water Basin
Place Status (Type)	region
Location	Nebraska, United States, North America
Latitude	unknown
Longitude	unknown

Rain Water Basin , region ( c.6,000 sq mi/15,540 sq km), S central Nebr. Also called the Loess Plain, the basin is roughly triangular in shape, with its base in the E overlooking the valley of Big Blue R., and extending to the low terraces of the Platte R. in the N and above the Republican Valley at the SW. The land generally slopes gradually to the SE. Much of the Loess Plain has no surface drainage; instead the moderate amount of precipitation is disposed of by evaporation and infiltration through the thick, silty soil. Water may remain on the land in shallow, wind-carved depressions; where the basins are deeper and infiltration slowed by nearly impentetrable claypan, rainwater basins such as ponds, lagoons, and marshes result. They are common in the more humid E part of the Loess Plain, esp. in Clay and Fillmore cos. The wetlands have been reduced from c.100,000 acres/40,470 ha to c.21,000 acres/8,499 ha through drainage and road building. Much of the wetland remaining is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, esp. for wildfowl. The Neb. Game and Parks Commission controls a smaller acreage.