yakima project operation issues drought 2005 chris lynch yakima field office march 2005
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Yakima Project Operation IssuesDrought 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?
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