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4 CapitalPress.com June 12, 2015 Drought By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — Legislation that permits water right trans- fers by Klamath basin farmers has been approved by Oregon lawmakers. Supporters say it will provide fl exibility during chronic water shortages. Senate Bill 206, which allows such leases and trans- fers before water rights in the regional are adjudicated in court, was approved by the House on June 4 after earlier passing the Senate and now awaits Gov. Kate Brown’s signature. While water rights in the Klamath Basin have been quantifi ed by state regulators, the legal adjudication process is still pending, which has prevented growers from mak- ing transfers. Aside from shifting lim- ited water among growers, transfers let farmers dedicate water to in-stream uses for environmental benefi ts with- out risking a forfeiture of their water rights, said Greg Add- ington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users As- sociation. “Et’s another tool we’re able to use, not just in drought years,” he said. Lawmakers also recently passed companion legislation, Senate Bill 264, which autho- rizes Oregon water regulators to oversee a water agreement among tribes and irrigators in the Upper Klamath Basin. Both pieces of legisla- tion have drawn fi re from opponents of a controver- sial proposal to remove four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River, which is meant to improve its hydro- logic function. Opponents fear that dam removal will release built up toxic sediment. They also say it will deprive local govern- ments of tax revenue. Idaho coping with ‘snow drought’ By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press BOISE — Idaho water experts are using the term “snow drought” to describe the state’s water year to date. Since the start of October, precipitation has been near normal across Southern Eda- ho, including in the Owyhee, Bruneau, Salmon Falls, Oak- ley and Upper Snake basins. But far too little moisture has fallen as snow, and unseason- ably warm winter and early spring temperatures prema- turely melted low- and medi- um-elevation snowpack. Many major reservoirs are nearly full following a May that brought 250 percent of average monthly precipita- tion to parts of Southern and Eastern Edaho, according to the fi nal USDA Natural Re- John O’Connell/Capital Press Crops are irrigated in Aberdeen, Idaho. The water year has brought much of Idaho about normal moisture, but far too little of it fell as snow, leading to drought concerns for many irrigators. sources Conservation Service moisture report of the season. The Boise reservoir system is now 93 percent full, and Jackson Lake and Palisades Reservoir in the Upper Snake system have 125 percent of their average fi ll to date. Salmon Walls Creek Reser- voir and Magic Reservoir water managers were able to shut off irrigation fl ows during much of May and accumulate more storage, to the point that Salmon Walls returned to its seasonal peak storage volume. Before May, Lyle Swank, watermaster of the Upper Snake water district, said many users were concerned about running out of water before finishing even their grain crops. “E don’t think you have that same concern any more,” Swank said. Nonetheless, more of Edaho has been added to a drought map as May precip- itation largely missed North- ern Edaho, which received 40 to 60 percent of its nor- mal monthly moisture, and a lack of mountain snowpack has natural flow forecasts ranging from 20 to 70 per- cent statewide. Tim Dillin, who farms in Bonners Werry, said his grain and hay have matured two weeks early due to hot and dry weather in Northern Edaho. He was concerned the dryness would harm his spring wheat, until a time- ly rain arrived at the end of May. Ron Abramovich, Eda- ho’s NRCS water supply specialist, said 55 of the 137 snow survey sites in and around Edaho would nor- mally retain snowpack by this time of year, but only 16 sites still had snow as of June 1. Abramovich antic- ipates shortages will occur in the Oakley, Salmon Falls, Owyhee, Big Wood, Little Wood, Big Lost and Little Lost basins. “Our money supply in terms of stream flows isn’t there this year,” Abramov- ich said, adding minimal inflows into reservoirs this summer will result in low storage carryover into next year. Willamette Basin’s dam, reservoir system studied By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press With drought and changing precipitation patterns on the minds of farmers and ranchers, an ongoing study of the Willa- mette River Basin’s dams and reservoirs is taking on a new urgency. One of the key issues to be answered in the Willamette Ba- sin Review is how much water agriculture really needs — or wants. “That is indeed the ques- tion,” said Jim Johnson, land use and water planning coordinator for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. The study is a joint project of the Oregon Water Resourc- es Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and it could ultimately result in Congress being asked to re-allocate water stored behind 13 dams in the Willamette River drainage sys- tem. The Corps of Engineers owns and operates the dams and reservoirs. The projects were built for fl ood control, irrigation, power production, navigation, wildlife and other purposes, but it’s water for agricultural use that is getting close attention. Another federal agency, the Bureau of Reclamation, holds the water rights certifi cates for the entire conservation storage Willamette Basin dams and reservoirs Willamette River Basin study area N 26 20 miles 1. Big Cliff 2. Detroit 3. Green Peter 4. Foster 5. Blue River 6. Cougar 7. Hills Creek 8. Cottage Grove 9. Dorena 10. Lookout 11. Fall Creek 12. Dexter 13. Fern Ridge Source: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Alan Kenaga/ Capital Press Portland 101 Willa mette R Klamath water transfer bill awaits governor’s signature iver 26 5 Salem 1 Albany Corvallis 4 13 8 101 available in the Willamette sys- tem. The certifi cates authorize 1.64 million acre-feet of stored water for irrigation annually, but less than 5 percent of it is used. Meanwhile, growing cities and industrial users can’t get at the remainder. The Willamette Ba- sin, running roughly 120 miles south from Portland to Cottage Grove, holds about 75 percent of the state’s population and is growing rapidly. 5 3 20 5 Eugene 11 12 10 9 2 6 7 97 But agriculture is big in the Willamette Valley as well, growing about 170 crops and accounting for more than 40 percent of the state’s gross farm sales, according to a 2013 Wa- ter Resources Department draft report. Johnson and others point out that a signifi cant amount of farmland in the valley isn’t irrigated and potentially could be used to grow higher-value crops if farmers could turn on the sprinklers. That capability should be taken into consider- ation when deciding future wa- ter allocations, Johnson said in an email. “We have a great deal of acreage in the Valley that has greater potential if water could be made available,” he said. Climate change is a big part of the discussion. In the Pacifi c Northwest in recent years, win- ter precipitation has arrived as rain rather than snow. This year, meager mountain snowpacks have already melted, according to federal hydrologists. The WRD draft report says that may be the new normal. Scientifi c models indicate the Willamette Basin is headed for warmer, wetter winters and hot- ter, drier summers. The average temperature is projected to in- crease by 2 to 7 degrees Celsius over the next century, and the Cascades snowpack will de- crease by 60 percent, according to the report. Melting snow traditional- ly provides up to 80 percent of the Willamette River’s fl ow in late summer, but that fl ow is ex- pected to decrease by 20 to 50 percent as the mountain snow- packs diminish, according to the report. “The area’s reliance on high-elevation water during summer months highlights the vulnerability of the Willa- mette Basin to the infl uences of a warming climate,” the re- port concludes. “Water stored in the Willamette Basin Corps Reservoirs is viewed as the last remaining supply of water for meeting future needs, both in-stream and out-of-stream needs.” The changing patterns al- ready play havoc with reservoir operators. This year, despite near normal precipitation in some areas, water levels in the Willamette Basin reservoirs are 51 percent of normal because the peak snow melt runoff oc- curred before operators began refi lling reservoirs. Corps of Engineers spokes- man Scott Clemans said he’s heard some people question why the Corps doesn’t begin refi ll operations in December or January instead of waiting until Webruary. The reason is that the dams were built primarily for fl ood control, Clemans said, and the risk from fl ooding must be ac- counted for throughout the win- ter months. Clemans said there are likely to be “wilder and wider swings” in refi ll operations as climate change takes hold. The Corps and state Water Resources Department are ex- pected to fi nish a report to Con- gress in three years. Washington climatologist already foresees warm winter By DON JENKINS Capital Press A strengthening El Nino suggests Washington will have another warm winter, possibly deepening the state’s drought, State Climatologist Nick Bond said Monday. “The odds are for a warm- er and drier winter overall,” he said. “And a lower than normal snowpack at the end of it.” Climatologists for several months this year saw a weak El Nino, a warming of the Pacifi c Ocean that often pres- ages a mild Northwest winter. After dipping in some places in April, sea temperatures in- creased in May, according to a report Monday by the Nation- al Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency now says there’s a 80 to 90 percent chance that El Nino condi- tions will persist until at least the end of the year, up from a 50 to 60 percent chance in early March. “There no question it’s out there, and it’s honking,” said Bond, a University of Wash- ington research meteorolo- gist. “There’s almost no doubt it will be there the remainder of the year.” This could be good news for California, which typi- cally receives soaking winter rains during El Nino years. But Washington can ex- pect only near normal pre- cipitation to go with higher temperatures, a repeat of the 2014-15 winter. A second straight mild winter could build on hard- ships, particularly for irriga- tion-dependent farmers in the Yakima Basin and the Olym- pic Peninsula rain shadow who rely on melting snow to keep river levels up. El Nino’s greatest effect on temperatures and precipita- tion typically occurs between January and March, according to NOAA. The El Nino may have weakened by then, Bond said. “That’s the silver lining to this.” Bond called “last win- ter mostly a fl uke” as warm weather kept snowpacks small, even though rainfall was near normal or above av- erage in most of Washington. By mid-spring, rain-fi lled Yakima River reservoirs were full and held about 1 million acre-feet of water. But with- out melting snow to replenish the reservoirs, the U.S. Bu- reau of Reclamation has esti- mated that by Oct. 1 the res- ervoirs will hold only 110,00 acre-feet, instead of the usual 320,000, creating a defi cit heading into the winter. Melting snow from the Olympic Mountains normal- ly keeps the Dungeness Riv- er high enough for farmers to draw from, even as salmon migrate upstream to spawn. This summer, the river is ex- ROP-23-2-2/#5 Another low snowpack could pile on drought hardships 24-2/#4X pected to fall to record lows, possibly forcing mandatory cutbacks on irrigators. En May, temperatures were above normal across Washington, according to the state climatologist. NOAA predicts above av- erage temperatures between June and August for Wash- ington, Oregon, Idaho and California. The agency forecasts be- low average rainfall in West- ern Washington and north- west Oregon. The rest of Washington and Oregon, as well as California and most of Edaho, have equal chanc- es of above or below normal precipitation, according to the agency.