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YBSA Monthly Report August, 2012
YBSA Monthly Report
August, 2012
Why YBSA Believes More Water is Required for the Integrated Plan: YBSA has been the only advocate for significantly increased water storage for the Integrated Plan (IP). As such we are compelled to explain why. Those reasons include Instream flows, Irrigation droughts, and Climate Change.
Instream Flows
YBSA believes the flows in the lowerYakima Riverwith the IP are inadequate to enhance and sustain the life stages of the andadromous fishery.
Fish production: The increase in fish production from the IP other than sockeye, is very modest given the level of investment. If all the elements of the plan are implemented, annual runs would increase by less than 30,000 springs, summer and fall Chinook, coho, and steelhead.
Sockeye passage can be delayed due to thermal blockage greater than 69°. In 2004 the river water at Prosser reached 70° F on June 18, and did not drop below 70° until September 5. Temperatures exceeded 75° F from June 23 through August 24.
YBSA believes that even though significant conservation will increase instream flows, added volumes are needed to increase functionality, especially in the lower 100 miles of theYakima River.
Storage carryover is the second limiting factor for Sockeye production in the Basin. Higher September reservoir carryover levels would significantly increase Yakima Basin Sockeye habitat and productivity.
Irrigation Drought Events.
The five major reservoirs of the Yakima Project with a total capacity of 1,045,000 acre-feet, store and release water for the purposes of irrigation, fish and wildlife, flood control, and recreation within theYakimaRiver Basin.
A “sixth reservoir” is snowpack in the higher elevations of theYakimaRiver Basin.
TheAcquavella Adjudication Courthas mandated that the rights of the Yakama Nation to instream flows for anadromous fishery are time immemorial and senior to all other water rights within theYakimaRiver Basin.
When the snowpack is low, our water storage is inadequate to supply our needs. In other words the irrigation demand is met in the average and good years, but our carryover is insufficient for drought years in spite of large investments in conservation.
YBSA also believes supplemental irrigation wells, which are again junior water rights and subject to curtailment, are symptomatic of inadequate surface storage.
Reliability of the Water Supply for theYakimaBasin
Background
Beginning in 1995, following the passage of the Act of October 31, 1994 (Title XII), and the instream target flows at Sunnyside and Prosser dams, the total demand placed against the Total Water Supply Available (TWSA) in a normal water year was about 2.7 million acre/feet.
(see www.ybsa.org “Reliability of the Water Supply for theYakimaBasin” document
pages 1-4)
Climate Change
Studies by the University of Washington working with United State Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies using three climate change scenarios, less, moderately, and more adverse spring and summer runoff is expected to decrease (ranging from 12 to 71%) and fall and winter runoff is expected to increase (ranging from 4 to 74%). The shift in runoff quantity and timing would cause significant risks to water supply.
(see www.ybsa.org “Reliability of the Water Supply for theYakimaBasin” document
pages 4-5)
Climate Change Impacts
Total Water Supply Available
Irrigation Proration Level
Insteam Flows
For the Integrated Plan without climate change there are four dry years (1993, 1994, 2001, and 2005). With the climate change scenarios the number of dry years increases, the Total Water Supply Available decreases, and the 70 percent irrigation proration level criteria of the Integrated Plan may not be met in some years as follows:
- Less Adverse: Seven dry years with the irrigation proration level at 70 percent for each year.
- Moderately Adverse: Fourteen dry years and the 70 percent irrigation proration level criteria are violated in every year.
- More Adverse: 24 dry years and the 70 percent irrigation proration criteria is violated in 22 of these years.
(see www.ybsa.org “Reliability of the Water Supply for theYakimaBasin” document
pages 5-7; figures 1 & 2)
Carryover Storage and Reservoir Refill
Table 3 provides a summary of the number of years of the 25 year period (1981-2005) that the three major water storage projects of the IP refill to the indicated capacity.
(see www.ybsa.org “Reliability of the Water Supply for theYakimaBasin” document
page 8; figure 3)
Conclusion
The IP includes a future study of the potential for an interbasin transfer of Columbia River water as a source to meet water supply needs contingent on how theYakimaRiver Basin’s economy develops over time.
On the other hand, the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement indicates that “Reclamation and Ecology with the input from the Workgroup, determined that there was no reasonable certainty that a pump exchange project was environmentally or economically feasible at this time to meet the Purpose and Need”. Consequently, the only water storage projects considered were Wymer Dam and Reservoir, Kachess Reservoir Inactive Storage, and Bumping Lake Enlargement. Ironically these projects are being strongly promoted while their environmental and economic feasibility have yet to be determined.
With the time immemorial Treaty right of the Yakama Nation for instream flows to sustain anadromous fisheries being senior to all other water rights, and with climate change having the potential to seriously affect the reliability of in-basin stored water supplies, we are faced with the reality that a Columbia River pump exchange is the only source of “new water” to supplement our over-appropriated Yakima River system.
The following is an article about theYakimaRiver Basinfrom the Daily Record
See www.ybsa.org.
YBSA Monthly Report, July 2012
YBSA Monthly Report
July, 2012
YBSA Concerns with Integrated Plan: Yakima Basin Storage Alliance (YBSA) continues to support the Integrated Plan (IP) but there exists water supply problems that have to be solved for the Plan to succeed. Some of the concerns are
a) Does the IP provide sufficient water to provide a minimum of 70% of the water needed by all the Irrigation Districts?
b) How will the IP provide water to address the second and third years of a drought?
c) With the return of additional salmonoids, especially sockeye, predicted in the plan, who will provide the water needed for their return?
d) Climate changes will affect when runoff will occur. How will the flow be managed?
Meeting with Yakima County Commissioners: During a meeting with the Yakima County Commissioners the concerns expressed were that the twenty to thirty year completion timeline of the IP does not provide the water that will be needed in the next decade. The Columbia River pump exchange, a one to one water exchange with theYakima River, should be included in the early implementation plan. Success of the IP depends on providing additional water in theYakimaBasin.
No Guarantee for Irrigation Districts: At an Implementation Committee presentation it was stated that the water available in the IP does not guarantee water for proratable Irrigation Districts.
Discussions with Environmental Groups: YBSA is having discussions with the Sierra Club and others to understand their concerns with the IP and how we can solve theYakimaBasin water problems.
Salmon Viewing: Viewing of Salmon in the following rivers in theYakimaBasin will occur:
AmericanRiver– August 5 through 20
LittleNachesRiver– September 1 through 20
CleElumRiverbelow Dam – September 14 through October 6
aboveLakeCleElum – September 25 through October 15
Bob Tuck will provide information on site. Please contact YBSA if you are interested in attending. Email klarichcj@charter.net or phone (509) 854-1041
See www.ybsa.org.
YBSA Monthly Report June, 2012
YBSA Monthly Report
June, 2012
Integrated Plan Work Group: Information that was provided for review and comment at the YRBWEP Work Group meeting on June 20th included:
- the status of funding for the projects identified as part of the early implementation program were;
- BOR funding: approximately $2 million for Lake Cle Elum fish passage andLakeKachesswater supply study.
- WSDOE: approximately $4 million for other early action items.
- A detailed explanation of the account analysis of the Integrated Plan will include cost allocation, cost/risk analysis, and an economic evaluation.
Water Supply/Climate Change: In a report prepared by the Washington State Department of Ecology predicted that the effects of Climate Change and the need for growth will create a need for additional water in the Yakima Basin. For additional information see Dave Lester’s article at http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/06/15/report-shows-climate-change-growth-will-strain-state-s-water-supply from theYakimaHeraldRepublic on June 15, 2012.
Meeting with Legislators: At a meeting with legislators, YBSA discussed how the following concerns could be addressed:
- The Integrated Plan storage element may not provide the amount of water needed for instream flow (fish and water quality) and out of stream (agriculture and future municipal growth) needs to address climate changes that were reported in the Department of Ecology climate study and consecutive drought years.
- The plan estimates an increase of 30,000 returning salmonoids and when the sockeye return the numbers may exceed 100,000.
- How will the sockeye be able to return to theYakima Riverin the late summer and fall when the river is at its lowest?
- The Clean Water Act may list the lowerYakima Riveras needing improvement.
See article at http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/06/18/lots-of-fish-lots-of-toxins-officials-looking-to-change-that published in theYakimaHeraldRepublic on June 18, 2012
- The Integrated Plan is a good program but only if there is enough new water to implement the plan. YBSA supports the idea if the storage elements become a reality so there will be water to meet current and future needs.
See www.ybsa.org.
YBSA Monthly Report May, 2012
YBSA Monthly Report
May, 2012
Mitigation Needed for Approval of Wells in the Yakima Basin: Given current water conditions in theYakimaRiver Basin, there is no water available for new water right permit applications to be approved for year-round consumptive uses unless the impact of the use can be offset, or mitigated. The Department of Ecology is currently contacting water right applicants to determine the status of the water right request. Although still not a guarantee, it is likely that only new consumptive uses that can be mitigated will be approved.
Focus on mitigation in theYakimaBasinhas now been expanded from the upperKittitasCountyto include Moxee and Wide Hollow sub-basins. The reason for not approving new wells was predicated on the loss of senior water rights.
The following link is to the editorial “Ecology takes prudent step as Valley awaits storage plan”
from theYakimaHeraldRepublicfrom May 31, 2012.
BPA Pumped Storage Report at the Columbia River Policy Advisory Group Meeting: Mark Jones, Manager of Federal Hydro Projects at the Bonneville Power Administration provided an overview of pumped storage for the region. BPA and the region have experienced a dramatic increased in wind generation capacity. This increase in capacity has posed a challenge for BPA to integrate the wind into the system and balance load generation. BPA has added storage improvements toBanksLake and is considering a set of options including adding pumped storage to an existing federal facility, building a new federal facility, or partnering with a non-federal entity. BPA recently contracted with HDR, Inc. to assess the characteristics and costs of potentialGreenfield (new) projects. This assessment suggested that new storage capacity would cost between $2.5 and $2.7b, which is well beyond the value of the project. With a multi-purpose facility, each part of the facility must return value, for example, the reservoir, irrigation, and power. It is necessary to spread costs across multiple purpose uses.
Yakima River Basin Integrated Plan Article: Below is an article by Dave Lester, reporter for the Yakima Herald Republic, that describes the proposed Yakima River Basin Integrated Plan being submitted to Congress. It also points out the concerns that there will be insufficient water made available over the next several decades to address the needs for the future of theYakimaBasin.
Published in NWRA National Water Resources Association at http://www.nwra.org/content/articles/wa-yakima-river-basin-water-plan-released/ on March 16, 2012
Yakima River Basin Water Plan Released
By Dave Lester
FromYakimaHeraldRepublic
The preliminary rounds are over. Now the real battle for support and money begins for a plan Gov. Chris Gregoire describes as one of the most significant ecological restoration projects in the West. Federal and state officials rolled out a final environmental report Friday on a plan to meetYakimaRiver Basin’s future needs for more water storage, fish passage and land preservation.
A key element is the expansion ofBumpingLake, northwest ofYakima, that has been reviewed and rejected for decades. The overall plan, more than two years in the making, could cost anywhere from $3.2 billion to $5.6 billion. The first concrete steps to find the majority of that money from a Congress already strapped for money will come during the rest of this year. Representatives of a broad-based group that developed the plan will head back toWashington,D.C., as early as April to begin laying the groundwork. Gregoire said the investment is worth it. “I urge that we move forward and implement this new program — the sooner we’re able to provide a constant source of water, the sooner our entire region will benefit.”
But any significant federal funding is considered unlikely until at least 2015. The plan, proposed in phases over the next several decades, is designed to give farmers a more reliable water supply and open miles of habitat for fish above basin storage dams. Two species, bull trout and steelhead, are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In addition to endangered species concerns, the three-county basin has suffered through five economically damaging droughts in the last 20 years.
The lengthy environmental document issued Friday only looks at the effects of the overall program, concluding the seven-step plan is preferable to doing nothing. The document is now headed to the Environmental Protection Agency and the federal Office of Management and Budget. From there, it will move to Congress. Individual parts of the plans would have to undergo environmental reviews on their own before they are authorized for funding. Yakima County Commissioner Mike Leita, who serves on the committee making the trip to D.C., said getting projects on the ground is key to the future ofCentral Washington. “Make no mistake about it, thisYakimaRiver Basinplays a significant role in our state’s economy and for endangered species recovery,” Leita said. “If this plan ultimately fails, the consequence of failure will be an economy and environment in considerable jeopardy.”
While this plan is ambitious, it also has gotten farther than previous plans, a myriad of which have been conducted here for decades without action. The federal Yakima Irrigation Project, stretching from nearSnoqualmiePasstoRichland, caused the desert to bloom with hundreds of millions of dollars in crops. But the basin has been hamstrung by limited storage capacity and annual reliance on a healthy snowpack to provide irrigation water at a time when climate change suggests less snow in the future. What is different about this plan is the support from the Yakama Indian Nation, a key basin player, and environmental groups. The plan also has drawn the interest of U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who visited the basin last fall. During his visit, he encouraged basin interests to submit a list of ideas that could be implemented in the near term. A consortium of nine environmental groups support the plan’s inclusion of new dams, including a larger Bumping and the Wymer reservoir in the Yakima River Canyon, because the plan also contains protections for up to 70,000 acres of land in forest and shrub steppe habitat.
Michael Garrity ofSeattle, representing the conservation group American Rivers, served on the group that devised the plan. Also represented were the Yakamas, farmers, county and state governments and fishery agencies. Garrity said the inclusion of land protection allows theYakimabasin to set a new standard for what a Western water project should look like. “This plan recognizes the need to restore native fish and landscapes that help protect a healthy river,” Garrity said. He added one significant benefit is the chance to make theYakima Riverthe largest producer of sockeye salmon in the lower 48 states, with an estimated 300,000 returning adults possible. Sockeye, a fish prized by native people, went extinct when the natural lakes in the Cascades were dammed in the early 1900s to store water for irrigation. The Yakamas have planted sockeye in Lake Cle Elum as part of a plan to test the ability to get fish out of the lake.
Among conservation groups backing the plan are the Washington Environmental Council, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Wilderness Society. Other groups like the Sierra Club oppose the storage element, preferring emphasis on water conservation and water banking to meet the basin’s needs. They plan to fight it. Other groups also have questions about the plan’s ability to achieve its goal of assuring farmers a 70 percent supply of irrigation water. Sid Morrison of Zillah, a former state legislator and congressman, heads a group called the Yakima Basin Storage Alliance that favors an interbasin transfer of water from theColumbia River. The alliance is urging the use of wind integrated into the Northwest power grid to pump water into the basin. The benefit the group sees is that wind farm developers could invest private capital to make the plan a reality. Studying an interbasin transfer is proposed, but only if other measures don’t satisfy the basin’s needs over the next 30 years. “We like the plan, but we are frustrated over there not being enough water and now there is no money to go with it,” he said. “We increasingly have concerns that don’t seem to be answered.”
See www.ybsa.org.
YBSA Monthly Report March, 2012
YBSA Monthly Report
March, 2012
Work Group Meeting March 14th:
Derek Sandison reported:
Final PEIS did not review any specific project. The only comparison was between the Integrated Plan (IP) and no action. Conservation will provide very little more water for the basin. A Columbia River exchange is not considered in the plan.
Wendy Christensen reported:
An engineering study and the cost of each project will have to be completed
Funding Approved by BOR for 2012-2013
$700,000 Cle Elum Fish Passage
$950,000 YRBWEP Sunnyside Canal Improvement Project
$450,000 to study pipeline Keechelus to Kachess, Lake Kachess Inactive Storage, or Ground water Filtration
Possible Drought Could Continue for Decades: Delaying the possible review of an inter-basin transfer of water from the Columbia River to the Yakima Basin as listed in the IP would only occur after storage projects listed in Phase 1 fail. The water needed for the Yakima Basin will be delayed for more than 20 years while we wait for Phase 1 projects to be evaluated. The economy in the Yakima Basin will continue to be jeopardized as it has since the YRBWEP was adopted in 1994. Droughts will continue to occur until a plan that provides water needed for fish, agriculture, and municipal and industrial growth is approved.
YBSA Concerns – Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan: The IP is a comprehensive program that includes seven elements to provide reliable and sustainable water resources for instream (salmon and steelhead) and out-of-stream (irrigation and municipal and domestic) water needs. The seven elements consist of a surface water storage element (3) and six complementary elements; fish passage at existing Yakima Project reservoirs; structural and operational changes to the Yakima Project; groundwater storage; habitat/watershed protection and enhancement; enhanced water conservation; and market reallocation.
The estimated cost to implement the Integrated Plan ranges from $3.1 to $5.6 billion; annual operating costs are $10 million. Construction of the projects of the water storage element (Bumping Lake Enlargement, Wymer Dam and Reservoir, and securing use of the inactive storage space of Kachess Reservoir) is anticipated to be completed within seven to thirteen years after Congressional and State Legislative approval and funding.
Water Supply Question:
1. How do we know the instream flow water is enough to handle the five-fold increase in salmon and steelhead (85,000 to 490,000) expected to move upstream to spawn in the Yakima basin, that includes sockeye that have been reintroduced in Lake Cle Elum, and to provide the out-migration of smolts?
2. What assurance do we have of the reliability and sustainability of the water supply for out-of-stream uses in view of (a) the Treaty senior water rights of the Yakama Nation, and (b) the potential impact of climate change on precipitation and runoff?
Economic and Repayment Questions:
1. Does the Integrated Plan meet the Federal criteria for a favorable benefit to cost ratio?
2. What portion of the estimated total implementation costs are allocated to fish, irrigation, and municipal and domestic purposes?
3. What is the rate per acre-foot that will be required to pay for the irrigation and municipal and domestic water? What are the repayment terms?
Financial Questions:
1. How is the Integrated Plan of $3.1 to $5.6 billion to be financed in view of the current state of the Federal and State budgets and their revenue problems?
2. Integrating wind power into the NW system is a State and regional problem and a national priority. What is the opportunity for private investment in a joint water supply-pumped storage generation in this plan?
Environmental Question:
Why does Bumping Lake Enlargement continue to be promoted as a major storage project after almost 50 years of intense environmental opposition and no implementation?
For additional information see www.ybsa.org
YBSA Monthly Report February 2012
YBSA Monthly Report
February, 2012
YBSA Comments on Draft PEIS of the Integrated Plan: YBSA supports elements of the Integrated Plan (“IP”) because it provides a short-term solution to the water supply problems of the Yakima Basin, while providing needed habitat improvements to help restore the Basin’s fisheries. YBSA is, however, deeply concerned that the IP water storage element does not provide a sufficient long-term solution to the water supply needs of the Basin, especially in light of current State and Federal funding shortages, and the National need to integrate Northwest wind power.
To more effectively meet the stated long-term needs for water storage and stabilization, YBSA urges an acceleration of the Columbia River Pumped Storage option identified in the IP. In particular, YBSA believes that funding for a study of the Columbia Pumped Storage option should be made a priority of the IP, and that the study should include a pumped storage electricity production element. The PEIS’s decision to make that option a mere aspiration does not adequately protect the Yakima Basin’s future, especially if the more severe climate change scenario considered in the IP come to pass.
The Purpose and Need statement in the PEIS demonstrates the urgent need for action to address water supply issues in the Yakima Basin, problems that will only grow worse as the Basin’s population grows and the effects of climate change alter the amount and timing of precipitation in the Basin
In particular, we note:
- Water supply is already a serious issue in theYakimaBasin. In dry years, proratable water rights holders already face substantial reductions in their water supply, placing the Basin’s agricultural economy at risk. As the PEIS correctly observes: “Demand for irrigation water significantly exceeds supply in dry and drought years, leading to severe prorationing for proratable, or junior, water rights holders.”
- Water rights in the Basin are fully subscribed, making it difficult for both municipalities and individual businesses and homeowners to obtain new water supplies for municipal uses. This places the Basin’s non-agricultural economy at risk. Ground water adjudication puts all Basin interests at risk by jeopardizing State, Federal and private investment in our needed infrastructure.
- As the PEIS notes, theYakimaBasinhistorically supported anadromous fish runs of somewhere between 300,000 and 950,000 fish annually. Habitat degradation over the last century has substantially reduced these numbers. (PEIS at 1-5 to 1-6). Low streamflows and high temperatures in certain reaches of theYakima, as well as excessive streamflows during certain times of year in other reaches, have contributed substantially to the decline of the Basin’s fisheries. By our calculations the IP further reduces flows in the lower 100 miles of theYakima River.
The Integrated Plan helps but does not fully meet the identified need for surface water supply, and fisheries benefits. Additional measures are needed in order to meet the need identified in the PEIS, the Integrated Plan by itself is likely to prove inadequate, especially in the long term. Conservation by itself is inadequate. The PEIS’s conclusion that additional water conservation measures, by themselves, cannot meet theYakimaBasin’s future needs.
The Columbia Basin Pumped Storage should be a priority. Initial screening should begin immediately. Electricity production and the use of wind energy to pump water provides a means of improving pumped storage economic viability.
- Identifying Additional Storage Options Immediately. A careful analysis of the PEIS reveals that water storage will be inadequate under the IP if any of the planned water storage options are, for any reason, derailed. It also reveals that if the more severe climate change scenarios emerge, the IP will be inadequate even if all storage options are built as planned
The Phase 1 project identified in the IP is likely to take years to complete. Accordingly, it is imprudent to wait for a crisis to emerge before thoroughly studying other options.
- Addressing the need for renewable energy integration. In the past decade, renewable energy (especially wind) has become a major economic force inCentral Washington, but the existing power system is rapidly running out of capacity to reliably integrate wind. This is a major barrier to continued regional investment in wind and other variable renewable technologies such as solar.
- Addressing adverse conditions in the lower Yakima. By shifting lowerYakima irrigation districts toColumbia water so that they do not need to withdraw from theYakima, the pumped storage option would substantially improve flows in the lowerYakima.
- Improved water storage. As noted above, by moving the lowerYakima irrigation districts away from dependence onYakima water, the pumped storage option can substantially improve the overall water supply picture in the Basin
Economic benefits of improved agricultural productivity are underestimated in the Integrated Plan.
YBSA believes many questions need to be answered prior to the approval of the Integrated Plan such as how would this plan eliminate future droughts that affect both the economy and the environment in theYakimaBasin.
Final PEIS and Integrated Plan for Yakima River Basin Published: The final programmatic environmental impact statement has been published in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 39, Tuesday, February 28, 2012. The Bureau of Reclamation will not make a decision on the proposed action until at least 30 days after filing the Final PEIS with the Environmental Protection Agency.
See the complete Integrated Plan information and YBSA’s comments on the Integrated Plan at www.ybsa.org
For additional information see www.ybsa.org
YBSA Monthly Report August, 2011
YBSA Monthly Report
August, 2011
Meeting with Yakima City Council on Pumped Storage/Wind Energy: YBSA met with the Transportation and Utility Committee of the Yakima City Council. The purpose of the meeting was to report on the assessment analysis of a pumped storage/wind energy project to help meet the water needs of the Yakima Basin and assist in the integration of wind resources. The Yakima City Council received a letter from the Yakima Basin Joint Board (Irrigators) requesting the city not support the analysis. YBSA supports the Integrated Plan but believes it’s critical to review all the possible tools in the toolbox to insure sufficient water is available in the Yakima Basin now and in the future.
Salmon Walk: Each September the Salmon start returning to the Yakima River Basin. Salmon walks will be hosted by Bob Tuck again this year. Viewing will occur on both the American and Cle Elum Rivers. Sockeye will be spawning in the upper Cle Elum River above Lake Cle Elum. Contact YBSA at (509) 840-2759 or Bob Tuck at (509) 945-7250 for specific times and locations.
Above are two pictures of salmon spawning from last year. There are videos of last year’s spawning at www.ybsa.org.
Central Washington State Fair: The Central Washington State Fair will start September 23 and run through October 2 at the Yakima County Fair Grounds. YBSA will have a booth at the fair with information about water issues that have occurred in the Yakima Basin. Displays and information on the water supply in the basin for fish, agriculture, and municipal and residential needs will be provided. Stop by and visit or volunteer to help operate the booth.
For additional information see www.ybsa.org
YBSA Monthly Report July, 2011
YBSA Monthly Report
July, 2011
YBSA Working With YRBWEP Work Group: Yakima Basin Storage Alliance (YBSA) continues to work with the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project (YRBWEP) Work Group to address the many problems that exist in the Yakima River Basin. The goals of the Integrated Plan include enhancement of the water supply and increasing fish populations in the Basin. The plan includes surface water storage projects: Wymer Reservoir in the Yakima River Canyon, taping into the inactive storage at Lake Kachess (water from the lake after irrigation water has been removed), constructing a new Bumping Reservoir enlarging the lake, and appraisal work on potential projects to transfer water from the Columbia River to the Yakima Basin possibly pumped storage.
The lack of an adequate water supply affects the economy and fish population of the Yakima River Basin. During dry years, farm income is reduced and crops are at risk. Future municipal and domestic water supplies are threatened because over appropriation of water rights make groundwater rights junior to most surface water users. Fish habitat, food sources and migration are affected as water flows throughout the year are in a state of flux.
Water for agriculture, municipal and domestic needs and fish are all concerns of YBSA. The Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan suggests inclusion of storage projects that are questionable. The increased water supply needed to complete some of the projects included in the Work Plan may never be achieved. The Yakima Basin has been without sufficient water for years and, with climate change information indicating more droughts, inter-basin exchange of water may be a solution that would solve the Yakima Basin’s problem for decades.
EIS Update: Presentations by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and Department of Ecology (DOE) at the July 13th YRBWEP Work Group meeting included a planning report/programmatic EIS update. Three categories will be included in the report: Habitat, Water Supply, and Environment. Presentations on the seven parts of the Integrated Plan will be on the BOR website. The final report on the Integrated Plan will be completed in the spring of 2012. A programmatic overview of the Work Plan will be provided in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A specific EIS will be done on each project when that project is reviewed. YBSA’s asked if the Work Plan programmatic EIS still be valid when one or more of the specific projects included in the Work Plan no longer are valid and cannot be completed.
Scoping Comments: Eighty-Five scoping comments were received and staff is working on answering those comments.
Subcommittee Recommendations: The Watershed Land Conservation Subcommittee continues to develop a Work Plan and the implementation Subcommittee is preparing recommendations for the Work Group.
CRESP: YBSA met with Jim Waldo, Gordon Thomas Honeywell LLP, and discussed the current progress of the Columbia Renewable Energy Storage Project (CRESP). The timeline is being extended because of litigation over Bonneville’s curtailment of wind production due to this spring’s high water-high wind events and the release of Chelan County PUD’s preliminary assessments of pumped storage sites in Chelan and Douglas Counties. The Chelan study shows that cost-benefit ratios for four of the nine sites studied were above 1.0 and two sites showed an even better cost-benefit ratio. YBSA will continue to move forward and develop a plan to examine pumped storage and an inter-basin exchange of water between the Columbia River and the Yakima Basin. Energy production and additional water for the Yakima Basin will benefit fish, agriculture, municipal and residential development, and will ensure that our basin has sufficient water for years of economic growth.
For additional information see www.ybsa.org
YBSA Monthly Report June, 2011
YBSA Monthly Report
June, 2011
Letter to the Wind Integration Steering Committee co-Signed by James C. Waldo, GTH, Counsel for the Yakima Basin Storage Alliance: Yakima Basin Storage Alliance sent a letter to Steve Wright and Tom Karrier, co-chairs of Bonneville Power Administration Wind Integration Steering Committee asking the committee to recognize the importance of pumped storage in the federal evaluation of water project economics. We believe pumped storage offers the possibility of solving not only the problems created by integrating variable renewable resources such as wind generation into the grid, but also solving chronic problems such as assuring adequate water supplies for Central Washington’s agricultural communities and improving conditions in the Yakima River Basin for anadromous fish.
Pumped Storage/Wind Integration Provides Many Benefits: Several years ago the communities in the three county area of the Yakima River Basin passed resolutions of support for the concept of using pumped storage out of the Columbia River when water and energy were in surplus to augment the diminishing supply of water from the Yakima River system for consistent municipal supplies, fish, and economic growth. Those resolutions of support were very helpful as we raised $18 million in federal and state funds and completed the study by the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) of the Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility Study (YRBWSFS).
That study is a good one, and the only thing that is out of date is the method the BOR used for projecting costs. That method has never found any project in the nation to be feasible, and the federal government is now changing the process to be more accurate by including all benefits, and looking for “least cost” options for meeting the goals.
The problem of insufficient water in the Yakima Basin is the same as it has been for years, and getting worse, particularly with the impact of climate change. We have as much precipitation as ever, but it comes at different times and in different forms than when the Yakima Project was planned and built. At risk is the dramatic amount of water storage we have had in the past in snow at high elevations, slowly melting to refill the five mountain reservoirs. We have the worst water storage ratio compared to the volumes of water needed of any BOR project in the nation. The big economic picture is bad, with banks now refusing to make production loans to many of the farmers that don’t have senior water rights, and only half of our basin acreage has that sort of guarantee.
The new approach we are taking is in reaction to what you are hearing in the news. The advent of government subsidized wind power (much of it to meet California’s need for environmental credits), and the dramatic over-supply of water in the Columbia and Snake Rivers as snow melts all too early, gives us weird patterns of too much energy now and the potential of energy and water shortages in the summer months. Bonneville Power (BPA) is having an impossible time in trying to integrate unpredictable wind power into our northwest grid and sell it to anyone, and actual negative pricing we saw last year will be repeated, with customers being paid by us to take our energy. BPA also has to use “economic redispatch”, a fancy way of saying we will have to turn off your wind machines when we can’t us the power, a great way to be sued by the wind industry because they lose their environmental payments when they aren’t running.
YBSA is embarking on a $75,000 evaluation of pumped energy storage. The investigative work will be done by Jim Waldo, a successful and well-known water and fish attorney, and he is coordinating the interests of all the parties, public and private, that are in the power or fish business. This effort is called the Columbia River Energy Storage Project or “CRESP”. Our goal is to see if we can work together, using outside money as well as ours to lower the cost of building and operating the facilities that serve all of our interests. This goal matches the stated desires of the U.S. Departments of Energy, Interior, and Commerce.
Pumped energy storage is the same concept as pumped water storage, except this time the water is pumped up out of the Priest Rapids pool, stored, and can be used to generate electricity when needed by running it back into the Columbia. This is a great benefit to fish as well as stabilizing the price of energy. It lets the wind turbines turn, and spilled water that harms fish be held until it helps. For Yakima Basin needs, our water flow would be into the Roza and Sunnyside Canals in the Moxee area, as designed in the BOR YRBWSFS. The benefits are spread throughout the three county area, because existing Yakima Project water is then managed to serve areas in need, like upper Kittitas County (with a moratorium by the state on new residential well permits), the rehabilitation of the Wapato Project (Yakama Reservation) with about 40,000 acres of land with a water right but no reliable supply, and rewatering and cooling the lower stretches of the Yakima River, a vital link in recreating a salmon fishery that takes us back to treaty days.
Now climate change is demonstrating the value of the inter-basin transfer of water, and having lost of capacity to store that pumped water and the energy it contains until it flows back downhill to stabilize regional energy supplies, as well as creating a better environment for fish production.
YBSA emphasizes that this effort is not in conflict with the purposes of the Integrated Work Plan being advanced (with our help) by the Department of Ecology and the Bureau of Reclamation. Rather, it is consistent with the plan being developed by the Work Group. In fact, it may provide significant opportunities that will complement many of the solutions being advanced in the process.
For additional information see www.ybsa.org
YBSA Monthly Report May, 2011
YBSA Monthly Report
May, 2011
Pumped Storage Wind Integration: Yakima Basin Storage Alliance believes an opportunity exists to assist in addressing the surplus electricity created by spring Columbia River runoff and wind power generation. Pumping surplus water uphill using excess power, storing water in a reservoir and returning it to the Columbia River will generate electrical power when the wind isn’t blowing. The electricity produced would provide an opportunity to assist in distributing the electricity when transmission lines and markets are available.
A pumped storage project using wind generated electricity could allow the wind industry to receive environmental incentive money. The reservoir would provide a storage battery for energy and benefit fish, agriculture, municipal needs and economic stability with a reliable water supply being left in the Yakima River.
Attached are two articles explaining the existing problem when hydropower and wind generation electricity exceed the ability of our transmission system to deliver the electricity. Pumped storage could be part of the solution by delaying the energy production to a time when it can be delivered and sold.
For additional information see www.ybsa.org