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Click on image to enlarge. From Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan

Yakima Watershed Map

Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan Images

Bumping Lake

Lake Cle Elum

Lake Kachess

Lake Keechelus

Rimrock Lake

House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee

Work Session: Overview of the Yakima Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan; Public: HB 1196

http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2013010085

from TVW Watch Learn Connect

Ellensburg Daily Record series on Yakima Water Plan

from Yakima Basin Conservation Campaign website

http://www.yakimaforever.org/2012/07/13/ellensburg-daily-record-series-on-yakima-water-plan/

Yakima Basin water plan gets hearing Posted on January 30, 2013

By David Lester

YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLICThe result of three years of work on a plan to meet future water needs in the Yakima River Basin got its first public airing Tuesday before one group that can help make it happen: the Legislature.

Some of the participants who did the work urged the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in Olympia to approve a bill that would authorize the state Department of Ecology to begin implementing what is called the integrated water resources management plan. The ambitious plan involves a mix of new storage, fish passage, water conservation, land preservation, water banking, aquifer storage, and operational changes to make better use of existing water in the three-county basin.

Each of the plan’s components would need individual environmental review to be authorized.

Yet to come before lawmakers is a separate request by Gov. Jay Inslee for bonding authority in the state capital budget to raise more than $20 million as a down payment on the overall plan. The overall cost could be as much as $5 billion and will be sought from the state, local sources and the federal government.

The hour long hearing put on display a difference of opinion among conservation groups, with some testifying on its behalf because of its major environmental improvements while others said the storage element — expansion of Bumping Lake and construction of the Wymer reservoir in the Yakima River Canyon — should be deleted in favor of greater emphasis on conservation.

Another basin group, the Yakima Basin Storage Alliance, an agri-business coalition that favors importing water from the Columbia River, questioned whether the proposed storage would be adequate to meet future needs in the face of climate change that could reduce winter snowfall. The basin relies on heavy winter snow to provide some of the water needed for irrigation, fish and economic development.

Committee Chairman Rep. Brian Blake, a Longview Democrat, said at the conclusion of the hearing that members could act on the bill as early as next week. Among the bill’s sponsors are Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, and Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake.

The integrated plan had its birth three years ago after the federal Bureau of Reclamation determined a new water reservoir in the Black Rock Valley, east of Yakima, was too expensive.

In the aftermath of that study, bureau and Ecology officials brought stakeholders together to work on a comprehensive solution to water needs. Represented in the group are state and federal fish agencies, the Yakama Nation, local and state agencies, irrigators, and an environmental group, American Rivers.

Ted Sturdevant, who led Ecology during the plan development and is now Inslee’s executive director for legislative affairs and policy, testified that the plan is a welcome departure from fighting over water and represents the future of water management in Washington state.

“I’m here on behalf of the governor to support leaders in the basin who took real risks to lay aside decades of conflict to forge a durable compromise where all needs are met,” he said. “Passage of this bill and a corresponding down payment will show the federal government we are serious and strengthens our hand to obtain funding.”

At the hearing, Yakima County Commissioner Mike Leita called the bill a small but important first step that has the support of all commissioners in the three counties.

Conservation groups testifying for the bill included American Rivers, which worked on the plan, as well as the Washington Environmental Council, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy and The Wilderness Society. Opponents included Friends of Bumping Lake, The Sierra Club and the Alpine Lakes Protection Society.

Bill Robinson, state government relations director of The Nature Conservancy, called the measure a first step to protect what he called special places, such as the Teanaway and a checkerboard of privately owned timber land in the Little Naches drainage. The plan seeks public ownership of some 70,000 acres of timberland and shrub steppe habitat.

But Chris Maykut, with the Friends of Bumping Lake, testified the expansion of the 33,000 acre-foot lake northwest of Yakima would destroy old-growth timber and the habitat of endangered species. Expanding the dam to about 190,000 acre-feet would cost an estimated $570 million.

“The Legislature should not appropriate more money on Bumping Lake because it is not the most cost-effective way to get water in drought years. Water conservation will save more than Bumping Lake,” he said.

Jay Manning, another former Ecology director and now a member of the Cascadia Law Group, which emphasizes work on natural resource issues, testified in favor of the bill, calling it a compromise that will benefit the economy and the environment.

He said it should not become another study that sits on a shelf.

“It’s not going to please everyone on the far left or the right, but it has the support of virtually everyone in the middle,” Manning said.

• David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.

Facts Pertaining to the Yakima River Basin

Under present physical conditions in the Yakima River Basin there is an insufficient supply of ground and surface water to satisfy the present needs of the basin. The future competition for water among municipal, domestic, industrial, agricultural, and instream water interests in the Yakima River Basin will be intensified by continued population growth, and by changes in climate and precipitation patterns.

The Yakima River

The Yakima River originates at the outlet of Lake Keechelus and runs for 214 miles in a southeasterly direction to its confluence with the Columbia River at Richland. With its tributaries, the Yakima River drains about 6,150 square miles or 4 million acres. The headwaters of the Yakima Subbasin originate in the high Cascade Mountains, with numerous tributaries draining subalpine regions within the Snoqualmie National Forest and the Alpine Lakes, Norse Peak, and William O. Douglas Wilderness areas. Major tributaries include the Kachess, Cle Elum and Teanaway rivers in the northern part of the subbasin. The Swauk, Teneum, Umtanum, Manastash, and Wenas creeks drain into the upper and middle Yakima River. The Naches River in the west is formed by the confluence of the Bumping and Little Naches Rivers. Tributaries of the Naches include the Tieton River and Rattlesnake and Cowiche creeks. Ahtanum, Toppenish, and Satus creeks join the Yakima in the lower subbasin from the west.

Storage

Six major reservoirs are located in the subbasin and form the storage component of the federal Yakima Project, managed by the USBR. These six reservoirs are Keechelus Lake, Kachess Lake, Cle Elum Lake, Rimrock Lake, Bumping Lake, and Clear Lake. Total storage capacity of all reservoirs is approximately 1.07 million acre/feet. With the exception of Rimrock and Clear Lake, all reservoirs were natural lakes, formed during the period of glaciation, prior to the construction of dams near their respective outlets. Approximately 3 million acre/feet are needed in the Yakima Basin annually.

Precipitation

Virtually all of the streams in the subbasin originate at higher elevations where annual precipitation is 30 inches or more. The rainy season in the valleys occurs during November through January when about half the annual precipitation occurs. Snowfall in the valleys ranges from 20 to 25 inches and from 75 inches at 2,500 feet to over 500 inches at the summit of the Cascades. This mountain snow pack provides most of the water for irrigated agriculture and streamflow.

Property Ownership

Private ownership totals 32 percent or over 1.2 million acres of the 4 million acres in the Yakima Subbasin. The single largest landowner is the U.S government with 1.5 million acres or 38 percent of the land area. Most of the federal land is within the Wenatchee National Forest. Other large federal land holding include the U.S. Army Yakima Training (YTC) Center, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and Bureau of Land Management lands (BLM). Other public ownership (state, county, and local governments) total over 400,000 acres. The YN Reservation covers 1,371,918 acres in southern Yakima County and a smaller part of Klickitat County. The YN and its members have over 880,000 acres held in trust; only a small portion is deeded land.

The Future

With climate change estimating a reduction in snow pack the ability to provide the additional water needed annually in the Yakima Basin for fish, agriculture, and residential, municipal and industrial use needs to be addressed.

Bumping Lake Reservoir Bumping Lake Reservoir

Lake Cle Elum Reservoir Lake Kachees Reservoir

Lake Keechelus Reservoir Lake Keechelus Reservoir

Rimrock Reservoir

Yakima Basin Storage Alliance

The Storage Component of the Integrated Plan Must Be Evaluated Immediately to Assure Sufficient Water for the Yakima Basin

The Yakima Basin Storage Alliance (YBSA) is a local “grassroots organization” formed to raise the awareness of the dependence of our Yakima River basin economy and environment on a reliable surface water supply and the need for additional stored water. YBSA is in a unique position in the Workgroup not being affiliated with any specific entity, agency or interest group. YBSA is focused solely on the challenge of an adequate and reliable water supply for the future in concert with our environmental and cultural values.

In March 2012, a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement was completed in which two plan alternatives were evaluated; a No Action Alternative and the Integrated Plan. The Integrated Plan consisting of a surface water storage element and six complementary elements was selected as the Preferred Alternative to move forward for Congressional and State legislative authorization and funding for implementation.

YBSA supports the Integrated Plan concept, but we are deeply concerned with the adequacy and reliability of the surface storage element to meet long-term instream and out-of-stream water needs.

The Integrated Plan purports to restore sockeye salmon to theYakimaRiver basinby providing fish passage to streams above the five Yakima Project storage dams inaccessible to adult spawning.

Adult salmon are projected to range from 140,000 to 310,000 at the mouth of the Yakima River facing a summer in-basin migration of 150 to 215 miles upstream to the spawning grounds when peak irrigation diversions are occurring and flows in the lower 100 miles of the Yakima River are dependent solely on return flows from the irrigated lands and target flows over Sunnyside Dam which will not increase with the Integrated Plan.

Recent climate change studies however, indicate that watersheds like theYakimaRiver basindominated by fall rain and spring snowmelt will be most affected by climate change. To assess the impact on the Integrated Plan three climate scenarios were evaluated; less adverse, moderately adverse, and more adverse. Results indicate that increased air temperature would cause more precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow in theCascade Mountainswith snowmelt runoff occurring earlier than under current conditions. This suggests significant risks to theYakimaRiver basin’s “sixth reservoir” of snowpack and the extended period of spring runoff which fills the reservoirs by about mid-June and provides natural unregulated runoff for irrigation diversions and instream flow maintenance for fish through the spring months.

How will the dry-year proratable irrigation water needs of a 70 percent supply be met when operation studies show the following for two of the three climate change scenarios: moderately adverse scenario of 14 drought years out of 25 years with the 70 percent criteria violated in every dry-year; and most adverse scenario of 24 dry years out of 25 years with the 70 percent criteria violated in 22 of these years?
What assurance do we have that after incurring significant capital investments the conflict among instream uses with time immemorial senior Treaty rights will not subordinate junior out-of-stream rights in dry years?

One of the three projects of the water storage element is the construction of a new dam on the Bumping River about one-mile downstream of the existing dam. The numerous reports gathering dust in the bookcases of Reclamation offices are testimony to the failed efforts to bring an enlarged reservoir on-line since about 1950. Irrespective of this history of opposition, some are convinced that this time with a different form of “greening of the environment” Bumping Lake Reservoir enlargement will successfully move forward.

Below are several recent articles on water issues in the Yakima River Basin.

Inslee takes important step toward Valley’s economic future

http://www.yakimaherald.com/search/778604-14/inslee-takes-important-step-toward-valleys-economic-future

Yakima Basin water plan gets hearing

http://www.yakimaherald.com/search/757428-8/yakima-basin-water-plan-gets-hearing

Governor’s Budget Policy Brief: Governor Chris Gregoire’s 2013 Budget Policy Brief-Managing Water in the Yakima Basin: The activities recommended for funding in the capital budget are:

Complete early action water supply projects ($20.9 million) The Department of Ecology will restore main stem and tributary habitat, construct fish passage facilities, divert power to support salmon migration, increase Lake Cle Elum storage, pump water into reservoirs to improve in-stream flows, enlarge Bumping Lake, construct a pipeline to connect Lake Keechelus and Lake Kachess, modify the Lake Kachess reservoir and create a groundwater infiltration system.

Acquire water rights ($2.0 million) The Department of Ecology will purchase existing senior water rights to provide seed water for establishing and operating basin water banks. Water banking is a mechanism used to facilitate legal transfer and market exchange of various types of surface, groundwater and storage entitlements. Setting up these banks will reduce barriers to completing water transfers and making water available for new uses.

Click Here for full report and updated information.

from Climate Change Impacts on Water Management and Irrigated Agriculture in theYakimaRiver Basin,Washington,USA

Julie A. Vano, Michael Scott, Nathalie Voisin, Claudio O. Stöckl, Alan F. Hamle , Kristian E. B. Mickelson, Marketa McGuire Elsner, and Dennis P. Lettenmaier

The Yakima River Reservoir system supplies irrigation water to over 180,000 irrigated hectares (450,000 acres). Runoff is derived mostly from winter precipitation in the Cascade Mountains, much of which is stored as snowpack and runs off in the spring and early summer. Five reservoirs within the basin have cumulative reservoir storage of approximately 30% of the river’s mean annual flow. Climate change during the 21^st century is expected to result in earlier snowmelt runoff, and reduced summer flows. The effects of these changes on irrigated agriculture in the basin were simulated using a hydrological model driven by downscaled climate scenarios from 20 climate models, output of which was archived by the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. In general, we find that the basin transitions to earlier and reduced spring snowmelt as the century progresses, which results in increased curtailment of water deliveries, especially to junior water rights holders. Historically, theYakima basin has experienced water shortages (years in which substantial prorating of deliveries to junior water users was required) in 14% of years. Without adaptations, for the A1B emission scenarios, water shortages that occur in 14% of years historically increase to 32% (15% to 54% range) in the 2020s, to 36% in the 2040s, and to 77% of years in the 2080s. For the B1 emissions scenario, water shortages occur in 27% of years (14% to 54% range), in the 2020s, 33% for the 2040s and 50% for the 2080s. Furthermore, the historically unprecedented condition in which the senior water rights holders suffer shortfalls occurs with increasing frequency in both the A1B and B1 climate change scenarios. Economic losses include lost value of expected annual production in the range of 5% to 16%, with significantly greater probabilities of annual net operating losses for junior water rights holders.

Climate change is projected to impact water supply within theYakimaRiver basin, especially for water users with junior water rights and – in the most extreme years – users with senior water rights. Due to changes in seasonal patterns of runoff, the system is projected to become increasingly unable to meet deliveries to junior water rights, and these increased occurrences of curtailments for junior water users may be substantial even in the 2020s.

Assuming current water rights and operating policies, these changes in system performance may result in decreases in economic value of crop production. Even with earlier crop development, which may somewhat reduce the impacts of summer water shortages, the expected value of production on junior lands may decline substantially as early as the 2020s. Without adaptation, the expected annual profits of perennials on junior land are much more likely to be negative, putting the success of many farm operations in doubt. In addition, the total annual value of farm production for the two crops discussed may decline anywhere from about $23 million to $70 million, depending on the time period and scenario, about 2% to 5% of total current farm production in the three counties that correspond to the Yakima River basin.

for full document click here.