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Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005

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

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Yakima Project Operation Issues Drought 2005

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  1. Chris Lynch Yakima Field Office March 2005 Yakima Project Operation IssuesDrought 2005

  2. Overview • Physical Basin • Facilities • River Operations Issues

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. Yakima Project Operations Obligations • Treaty Trust – attention to fish • Water supply – primarily irrigation Other purposes • Flood Control • Hydropower • Recreation

  6. 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

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

  8. Yakima River Basin Fish • Target Flows • Ramping Rates • Screens & ladders • ESA • Bulltrout • Steelhead • Other Species • Fall Chinook • Spring Chinook • Coho Bull Trout

  9. 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)

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. Yakima Basin Issues, 2005 • Runoff Forecast Uncertainty • Usual method appears unreliable • Use various methods; Statistical and Hydrologic • Future condition bias?

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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?

  18. 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

  19. 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.

  20. Yakima Project Operations • Questions?

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