The department shall maintain and administer a data bank in the field of soil and water resources in the State of Nebraska. The collection of basic data and necessary interpretations of these data in the area of soil and water resources by agencies, departments, and political subdivisions of the State of Nebraska shall not be affected by this section. Such data and necessary interpretations of them shall be made available to the department for inclusion in the data bank when published or earlier if deemed by the originator to be suitable for inclusion. The source of data shall be identified in the data bank and when appropriate shall be associated with subsequent publication or other use. Processing and interpretation of the basic data shall be carried out by the department, except that this section does not preclude the independent processing and interpretation of such data by the collecting agency or other agencies. The resources of the data bank shall be made available to all interested agencies and persons.