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March 23, 2018 CapitalPress.com 3 Oregon water supply in better Federal spring outlook favors shape than before 2015 drought S. Oregon drought deepening Snowpack levels below average but reservoir levels still decent By DON JENKINS Capital Press By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Oregon’s current water supply outlook doesn’t evoke optimism but early spring conditions were even worse before the severe drought of 2015, experts say. The average snowpack level is now at about 64 per- cent of average statewide, compared to about 17 percent of average three years ago, said Scott Oviatt, Oregon snow survey supervisor for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “We really had no snow, especially in the northwest- ern part of the state,” he said. Oregon got off to an ex- cellent start last autumn — with snowpack levels at 236 percent of average statewide before Thanksgiving — but the situation has since deteri- orated, Oviatt said during the March 15 meeting of the Or- egon Water Resources Com- mission. Precipitation is at 90 per- cent of average, which is sim- ilar to 2015, he said. The water supply outlook would have been gloomier this year if not for below-av- erage temperatures in Feb- Natural Resources Conservation Service A heavy early snowpack drapes Oregon’s Mount Hood. While the snowpack in Oregon got off to a promising start, it is now just 64 percent of average statewide. ruary, which allowed snow levels to build up somewhat, said Andy Bryant, hydrolo- gist with the National Weath- er Service. Snow accumulation is much better in the northern Columbia River basin of Washington and British Co- lumbia, Bryant said. “We’ve been kind of left out of the storm activity for most of winter.” Looking to future weather conditions, there’s “not a lot to hang your hat on” in Or- egon’s long-range forecast, Bryant said. There’s an equal likeli- hood that temperatures and precipitation will be above average, average or below average in April, May and June, he said. In July, August and September, though, the projection is for rainfall to be below average and tempera- tures to be above average. Fortunately, major water storage reservoirs across Or- egon are in respectable shape — from about 81 percent of average in the Willamette ba- sin to 131 percent of average in the Owyhee basin, said Ken Stahr, OWRD’s surface water and hydrology manag- er. “Through wise man- agement, we had a decent amount of carryover,” Stahr said. Diminishing snowpacks are a long-term trend in the West, said Kathie Dello, as- sociate director of the Oregon Climate Change Research In- stitute at Oregon State Uni- versity. Since 1955, the region’s snowpack level on April 1 has fallen by the equivalent of Lake Mead — a major storage reservoir on the Col- orado River — as measured in water content, she said. Drought likely will inten- sify in Southern Oregon and California over the next three months, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion reported March 15. The odds favor warm and dry weather for the next three months in the two states, ac- cording to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Some 38 percent of Ore- gon and 47 percent of Califor- nia are already in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a drought emergency in Klamath Coun- ty on March 12. NOAA said drought, while worsening, probably will be modified by a wet second half of March. Also, Oregon and Northern California are enjoying carryover from the 2016-17 water year. While snowpacks are small, most reservoirs are at or above historical averages for mid- March, forecasters noted. NOAA’s three-month out- look assesses the chances that a region’s precipitation and temperatures will fall below, above or within a normal range. Washington, for exam- ple, has an equal, or 33 per- cent, chance of having a wet, dry or average spring. In some other places, the odds are tilt- ed one way or the other. The new outlook pegs the odds at 40 to 50 percent that NOAA Shades of green mean that odds favor a wet spring and shades of brown indicate that chances are spring will be dry on this map released March 15 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. the next three months in Or- egon will be drier than av- erage. There is a 40 percent chance the temperatures will be above normal in Southern Oregon, according to NOAA. In California, the odds range from 40 percent in the north to 60 percent in the south that temperatures will be above normal. There’s a 50 percent chance that most of the state will be drier than average. NOAA’s outlook leans heavily on higher sea-surface temperatures along the equa- tor in the Pacific Ocean. Temperatures are still low- er than usual, but La Nina is giving way to temperatures in the normal range, according to NOAA. Average, or neutral, ocean temperatures are expected to last at least through the win- ter. After that, forecasting models disagree about wheth- er the ocean will warm, cool or stay average, according to NOAA. La Nina generally brings colder and wetter weather to the northern U.S. and the opposite to the southern tier. La Nina conditions have pre- vailed the past two winters. State agency wants to boost dam inspection authority Current dam safety laws are considered to be outdated, OWRD says By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Laws governing dam safe- ty in Oregon have become outdated, prompting state regulators to seek upgraded authority to inspect and order repairs to the structures. In the next legislative ses- sion, the Oregon Water Re- sources Department plans to ask lawmakers to revise dam safety statutes that were orig- inally written nearly 90 years ago. The ability to enter prop- erty without a warrant to con- duct dam inspections is one request the agency is consid- ering, said Racquel Rancier, senior policy coordinator for OWRD. Currently about a dozen dams in Oregon haven’t been inspected by OWRD in re- cent years because the land- owners denied entry to their property, said Keith Mills, the department’s dam safety engineer. Oregon has jurisdiction over dams that are at least 10 feet high and store more than 9.2 acre-feet of water, he said. The state inspects 969 such structures, while the feder- al government inspects 285 dams. More than 25 percent of state- and federally-inspected dams in Oregon are rated as high or significant hazards, which is based on their po- tential to cause lost life and property damage, rather than physical condition. Following are other dam safety laws under consider- ation: • Landowners may be re- quired to obtain OWRD’s per- mission to modify or remove dams under the supervision of an engineer, to ensure such Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Karen Sowers, right, Washington State University Extension outreach specialist for oilseed crops, is serving as executive director of the new Pacific Northwest Canola Association. Sowers serves as canola association executive director EO Media Group File An excavator breaks a log jam in April 2013 above the Three Mile Dam on the Umatilla River north of Hermiston, Ore. The Oregon Water Resources Department is considering seeking tough- er dam inspection laws. changes are done safely. • The agency may im- pose a requirement for peo- ple building lagoons — such as those storing manure or wastewater — to submit their final designs to OWRD before starting construction. The de- partment now lacks authority for structures that don’t in- volve water rights. Currently, OWRD must automatically schedule an administrative hearing when dam repairs are needed, which the agency considers a time-consuming process that could endanger public safety. The agency may instead require the dam owner to get an “engineering analysis” of the structure without sched- uling a hearing, or to hold a hearing only if the owner ob- jects to the repair plans. Under another proposal, Grass Expertise. LET’S TALK! Over 40 Years Experience the agency may order the im- mediate correction of unsafe conditions at potentially haz- ardous dams by reducing wa- ter levels, opening valves or taking similar actions. “That is something we can’t currently do if we know it needs to be done,” Rancier said. Imposing civil penal- ties for dam safety problems would provide an “intermedi- ary” approach to induce need- ed repairs, rather than the only current option of imposing an order, she said. “They really only provide a hammer,” Rancier said of current laws. At this point, these ideas are only in draft form and will be refined based on feedback, she said. New organization seeking members By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press RITZVILLE, Wash. — Karen Sowers, Washington State University Extension outreach specialist for oil- seeds, is the executive di- rector of the new Pacific Northwest Canola Associa- tion. For now. The job does not affect her position with the univer- sity. Sowers works roughly 85 percent of full-time for WSU, and will work 20 hours a month as the asso- Weekly fieldwork report Wash. Idaho • Snow water equivalent* 64.8% 107.7% 93.5% 63.2% • Percent area in drought 76.1% 11.7% 44.3% 88.9% Normal/ 50% below Normal/ 40% below 40-50% below Normal/ 40% below 40-50% below 33-40% below 33-40% below 40-60% below Normal/ Below normal Normal/ Above normal Normal/ Above normal Below normal Item/description • Avg. temperature, 6-10 day outlook (Percent chance deviation from normal) (Percent chance deviation from normal) • Soil moisture anomaly (Monthly deviation from normal) Alan Greenway, Seedsman 12-1/108 *Aggregate average percent of median as of March 13. Medians calculated for the period from 1981-2010. Caldwell, Idaho • Alan Greenway, Seedsman Cell: 298-259-9159 • MSG: 298-454-8342 Calif. Ore. • Precipitation, 6-10 day outlook GREENWAY SEEDS ciation’s executive director. A full-time executive di- rector is being sought for the association, Sowers said. The association is also looking for members. Mem- bership levels range from producers at $75 per year, agencies at $100 per year to various industry levels, from associate at $500 to platinum at $5,000. Plati- num level membership enti- tles the member to a voting seat on the association’s board of directors. The association became operational at the end of 2017. Contact the association at pnwcanola@gmail.com Sources: USDA, NRCS; NOAA, www.ca.gov/; www.drought.gov/