yakima project operation issues drought 2005 chris lynch yakima field office march 2005

20
Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Post on 20-Jan-2016

218 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Yakima Project Operation IssuesDrought 2005

Chris Lynch

Yakima Field Office

March 2005

Page 2: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Overview

• Physical Basin

• Facilities

• River Operations Issues

Page 3: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 4: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 5: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Yakima Project Operations

Obligations• Treaty Trust – attention to fish• Water supply – primarily irrigation

Other purposes• Flood Control• Hydropower• Recreation

Page 6: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 7: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Yakima Project Irrigation

• 460,000 irrigable acres• Fruit trees (apples, cherries, pears, apricots)• Hops, wine grapes• Grain, forage• Vegetables and nuts

Page 8: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Yakima River Basin Fish

• Target Flows

• Ramping Rates

• Screens & ladders

• ESA

•Bulltrout

•Steelhead

• Other Species

•Fall Chinook

•Spring Chinook

•Coho

Page 9: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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)

Page 10: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 11: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 12: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 13: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Yakima Basin Issues, 2005

• Runoff Forecast Uncertainty– Usual method appears unreliable– Use various methods; Statistical and

Hydrologic– Future condition bias?

Page 14: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 15: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 16: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 17: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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?

Page 18: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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

Page 19: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

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.

Page 20: Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005 Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005

Yakima Project Operations

• Questions?