Transcript Slide 1
Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005 Overview • Physical Basin • Facilities • River Operations Issues Yakima Basin Physical Features • • • • • Cascade Mtn headwaters (~8,000 ft. msl) Tributary to Columbia River , (340 ft. msl) 215 miles long Arid foothills and lowlands, south and east Major tribs: Naches, Kachess, Cle Elum, Teanaway, Bumping, Tieton, Rattlesnake, Toppenish, Satus Yakima Project Facilities • 5 reservoirs – 1 million AF of storage • 420 miles of canal, 1697 miles of laterals, 144 miles of drains, 2 major powerplants, 73 miles of transmission lines • 7 Project Divisions: Storage, Kittitas, Tieton, Roza, Sunnyside, Kennewick, Wapato • Fish screens and fish ladders Yakima Project Operations Obligations • Treaty Trust – attention to fish • Water supply – primarily irrigation Other purposes • Flood Control • Hydropower • Recreation Yakima Project Operations Operational goals – Meet irrigation demands – Meet flow targets (salmon and ecosystem) – Reduce floods – Produce power – Strive for environmentally-friendly operations – Maximize carryover – Safe for recreation Yakima Project Irrigation • • • • • 460,000 irrigable acres Fruit trees (apples, cherries, pears, apricots) Hops, wine grapes Grain, forage Vegetables and nuts Yakima River Basin Fish • Target Flows • Ramping Rates • Screens & ladders • ESA •Bulltrout •Steelhead • Other Species •Fall Chinook •Spring Chinook •Coho Yakima Project Operations • Defined by authorized purposes, court orders • Discussed monthly at open Riv-Ops meetings – Irrigation Districts – Yakama Nation – Fisheries agencies • Consult with SOAC on fish issues • 15 month operational year (Aug – Oct) Yakima Project Operations 15 month operational year (Aug – Oct) • • • • Fall: Year end deliveries; set spawning flows Winter: Target flows; Fill; Flood Control Spring: Target flows; Fill; Demands; FControl Summer: Draft to meet demands; Irrg, fish, M&I Fish Flows - History • 1980 Quackenbush Decision – Water must be provided for salmon nests – Formation of System Operations Advisory Committee (SOAC) – Flip-flop operation • 1994 Pulse flow decision – Storage releases for spring out-migration flows • YRBWEP Title XII minimum flows Issues in 2005 • • • • • • • Runoff Forecast Uncertainty Low March Water Fish Out-Migration Flows, Apr-Jun Water Rights Early Storage Control Date Low Reservoir Levels Very low prorationed supply Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Runoff Forecast Uncertainty – Usual method appears unreliable – Use various methods; Statistical and Hydrologic – Future condition bias? Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Low March Water – Natural flows are extremely low – Diversions – flood water rights • Distributed according to water rights • Some normal users get none – Frost water • 3 week early growth • Crop damage Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Fish Out-Migration Flows, Apr-Jun – SOAC method – Natural events not diverted • Benefits fish • Benefits storage – Storage releases if needed • Needed in 1994, not in 2001 Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Water Rights – Non-Proratable – 100% supply – Proratable – 34% supply – Post 1905 – 0, zero, shut off – Illegal water use – Water transfers • approval process Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Early Storage Control Date – Reservoir system drawdown – Longer period to rely on Storage – Especially hard on Proratable Districts • Roza – rotating on/off …gamble • Kittitas – run until out of water, July? Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Low Reservoir Levels – Fish passage into tributaries – Habitat impacts – Rimrock • Target elevation/dates • Fish entrainment problems • Clear Lake – Impact on winter flows Winter Flows - Current • Spawning flows set by fish needs and demands – Work with SOAC • Determine refill risks, consider – Carryover – ENSO and Forecast – Precipitation and flow conditions to date • Evaluate current conditions – Forecast (weather and runoff) – Size of salmon run, where fish spawned, etc. Yakima Project Operations • Questions?