WaterWired

Another AWRA Presentation: Statewide Roundtables - Taking Oregon's Water Pulse

This AWRA Annual Conference presentation is an updated version of one I posted last December. It describes the meetings we held in Fall 2008 to assess the 'water pulse' of Oregonians.

Download Campana - AWRA 2009 Session 45 WR Planning

All the Roundtable documents, including the synthesis report, are available here.

Enjoy!

“When I give a lecture, I accept that people look at their watches, but what I do not tolerate is when they look at it and raise it to their ear to find out if it stopped." -- Marcel Achard (French playwright)

Sleepless in Seattle: AWRA Annual Conference Final Program and Proceedings

Okay, time to do a little heavy lifting for one of my professional societies, the American Water Resources Association.

Also time for some full disclosure here: I'm on the AWRA Board of Directors, and on 1 January 2010 I become its President-Elect.

Anyway, our 2009 Annual Conference begins in Seattle on 9 November 2009.

Here is the final program:

Download AWRA_Seattle_Final_Program

Donwload the proceedings here.

This is going to be a great one. Hard to beat the venue, too!

Hope to see you there.

"Wish AWRA had been around when I was doing hydrology!" -- O.E. Meinzer

 

This 31st of October, a Scary Post: Exempt Wells!

Might as well celebrate Halloween with a really frightening post. Las Vegas? Pat Mulroy? 'The Source'?The Delta? Atlanta?

No - really frightening.

Exempt wells!

Yes, those low-capacity wells threaten to overwhelm Western water managers and others, because, like zombies, there are so many of them, they keep coming, and they can't be killed. 

What with Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize for her work on common-pool resources, it was appropriate that someone should conflate exempt wells and CPRs. Rob Emanuel over at H2ONCoast did that quite nicely with this post.

Cally Carswell wrote a piece in the the High Country News with the wonderful title, "Death by a thousand wells".

Both Cally and Rob focus on the PNW, although Cally discusses other areas in the West.

This is a problem that's going to get worse before it gets better.

"We're going to have a water war. You can just see the knives are sharpening."  -- Rachael Paschal Osborn, executive director of the Center for Environmental Law and Policy, referring to the exempt well issue in Washington

First Meeting: Oregon Section of the AWRA

The inaugural meeting of the Oregon section of the American Water Resources Association will be held on 16 December 2009, 6-9 PM, at the Lucky Lab Beer Hall, 1945 NW Quimby, Portland, OR.

Dinner (on your own) starts at 6 PM, and about 6:45 PM we will have two stellar speakers:

1) Phil Ward, Director,OWRD

2) Dick Pedersen, Director, ODEQ

Phil and Dick will discuss Oregon's development of an integrated water resources strategy. The strategy is designed to address Oregon’s water quantity, water quality, and ecosystem needs.  The development process will include state natural resource agencies, local governments, tribes, private business, non-governmental organizations, and a wide range of stakeholder groups. Directors Ward and Pedersen will discuss the need for such a long-term strategy and note the legal, historic, and technical foundation upon which this effort is built. Their presentations will indicate opportunities for you to get involved.

Following the talks, about 8 PM, we will have the section's first business meeting. You do not need to be a member of national AWRA to join-  just someone who works or lives in Oregon. Bring your $25 2010 dues and we'll anoint you!

Thanks to the Portland office of Brown and Caldwell for sponsoring the meeting.

Download a meeting flyer and a copy of our bylaws:

Download 2009-12-16 Flyer

Download AWRA_Oregon_Section_Bylaws_Final_15_July_2009

Hope to see you there!

"I would join this organization if I were alive and lived in Oregon!" -- Steve Reynolds, legendary New Mexico State Engineer

Can Salmon Evolve to Survive Dams?

Fascinating and controversial story by Matthew Preusch in today's print editon of The Oregonian titled, Can salmon evolve to survive among fish-killing dams?

I'm sure salmon can evolve to survive dams, given enough time. The question really is, are they?

Preusch begins:

Dams hurt salmon, robbing them of free-flowing rivers and confusing them on their celebrated, circuitous life journey.

But maybe the fish can take it.

In the Northwest, more than a billion dollars a year is spent to repair the damage done to salmon by massive hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. For at least a decade, a debate has raged over whether four of the massive concrete plugs on the Snake should be torn down to help fish protected by the Endangered Species Act. At one point, President George W. Bush even stood atop one of those dams to pledge that wouldn't happen. In the meantime, some salmon appear to have changed in a way that could turn that debate on its head.

The story notes that some fall chinook salmon in the Snake River are delaying their trip to the ocean for up to a year. During that time they grow larger, presumably to better survive the rigors of being a salmon.

The Pacific Northwest's salmon restoration program is one of the world's largest stewardship programs. So could the salmon be saving themselves? Are they truly evolving? Maybe we don't have to spend $1B per year to save them.

Preusch's' story broaches the evolution issue:

But whether that adaptation is merely a response to rapidly changing conditions without any genetic change or true evolution remains an open question, said Robin Waples, senior scientist at NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

"Both factors are probably involved," Waples said. "That would be my guess."

Waples co-wrote a study last year that examined whether the fall chinook were evolving. In part, he said, they are.

It appears that fish that migrate as yearlings and return to spawn pass along that trait to their offspring.

"There's a possibility that there's strong selection now that favors this life history," he said.

The 50 or so years since the first dams were built on the Snake means about 12 generations of fish, enough time for natural selection -- the engine of evolution -- to take its course, Waples said.

Some prominent fish experts disagree with that conclusion, including Howard Schaller, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Columbia River Fisheries Program Office.

"We have to wait and see over a longer period time," Schaller said. "It's an interesting piece of information, but there's a lot of uncertainty."

If the salmon are truly adapting and transmitting these traits to their offspring, then that begs the question: what happens to them if and when the dams are removed?

That could be the $1B question.

"If that system becomes natural again, they may not react well to that." -- William Connor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist (quoted in the story)

The Civil Rights Act and Environmental Justice

Noah Hall's excellent Great Lakes Law blog featured a guest post by Chris Winter of the Crag Law Center  in Portland, OR.

Here is Noah's introduction:

This guest post is by Chris Winter, Co-Executive Director & Staff Attorney of the Crag Law Center in Portland, Oregon.  Chris and I went to law school together, and despite his Pittsburgh roots, he moved out west after graduation.  After several years in private practice with Stoel Rives LLP, Chris founded the Crag Law Center to provide affordable legal assistance to groups working on environmental and natural resource issues.  Chris had a huge victory this week in a precedent setting environmental justice case under the Civil Rights Act.  The case received national coverage (see this article from the New York Times) and will put legal and political pressure on the Obama Administration’s EPA to finally enforce the law to protect poor and minority communities from pollution and other environmental harm.

Read Chris' post. It's a great story, and I suspect we'll see more like this.

"What the district court initially classified as an 'isolated instance of untimeliness' has since bloomed into a consistent pattern of delay by the EPA." -- Judge A. Wallace Tashima, writing for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Washington Attorney General: Department of Ecology Can Limit Groundwater Withdrawals

About two months ago I posted a story about the Washington Department of Ecology banning additional unpermitted ('exempt') wells in a portion of Kittitas County. The graphic below is from David Lester's story in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Well, we've had some new developments since then.

Yesterday, state Attorney General Rob McKenna's office issued an opinion stating that the Department of Ecology can halt new groundwater appropriations, upholding its temporary moratorium on new wells in upper Kittitas County.

The wells originally in question are unpermitted or so-called 'exempt' wells, often used to supply water to individual homes. The Department of Ecology issued the ban in July 2009, claiming the wells were impairing streamflows and senior water rights.

State and local officials had asked the AG's office to weigh in. It did, allowing the Department of Ecology to ban both new permitted and unpermitted wells. But the department cannot impose stricter limits on exempt well withdrawals than those already allowed under state law.

Read more from Associated Press writer Sharon Dininny's story in The Seattle Times.

I am curious to see if there are any ripple effects from this opinion. Exempt wells are hot topics throughout the Western USA and other areas as well.

“I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.” -- Frances Willard

Conference on Water and Land Use in the Pacific Northwest: Integrating Communities & Watersheds

This conference will be held 4-6 November 2009. There is still time to submit an abstract for a poster (deadline: 30 September)! See below for important dates.

General Information:

This regional conference merges the best available water science and land-use knowledge to promote collaboration between scientists, planners, and decision-makers on sustainable land-use methodologies. The agenda was developed in response to comments from previous water quality-based conference participants who stressed the need to plan future development in ways that would protect and improve water resources. The conference will include presentations, featured speakers, panel discussions, and a poster session.

Water and land use are explicitly linked through a complex myriad of quantity- and quality-related issues. Historically, development planning and implementation occurred which sought to minimize impacts on water resources. In the world today, water scarcities due to economic growth, ecosystem demands, and climate change are forcing a new paradigm in planning and management. The goal of sustainable development is creating opportunities for creative solutions that look beyond project borders to encompass more holistic watershed approaches. This conference will bring together a unique mix of keynote speakers, panels, posters, and speakers to highlight regional solutions and research being conducted to improve the societal impacts on future expansions. The goals of this year’s conference are to:

• Engage planners and scientists in discussions regarding the needs, constraints and opportunities related to water and land use planning
• Improve the interaction, collaboration, and communication between scientists, engineers, and planners to improve common objectives related to sustainable development
• Explore innovative approaches and policies being developed regionally and promote understanding of what planning and science can offer to the process

Who Should Attend:

• Watershed groups and Non-governmental Organizations
• Conservation and Irrigation Districts
• Water and Natural Resource Agency Scientists and Staff
• Federal, Tribal, State, County, and City Officials and Staff
• University and Extension Researchers and Educators, Students
• Environmental and Natural Resources Attorneys
• Water Resource Advisory Committees and Councils
• Resource Use and Protection Advocates
• Planning and Zoning Officials
• Developers, Consulting Scientists, and Engineers
• Building and Landscape Architects
• Economic Development Staff
• Interested Citizens

Important Dates:

September 30, 2009 Last day to submit abstracts for poster session

October 2, 2009 Last day for guaranteed conference rate at Skamania Lodge

October 16, 2009 Last date to submit scholarship application

October 16, 2009 Last day to request full refund of conference registration fee

January 2010 Conference proceedings available: http://www.swwrc.wsu.edu/conference2009

Get all the information at the conference WWW site. The Skamania Lodge is a gorgeous venue - on the Columbia River, about 45 miles east of Portland International Airport.

"If you don't accept responsibility for your own actions, then you are forever chained to a position of defense." -- Holly Lisle

Will the Pacific Northwest Become Drier?

Some of us in the Pacific Northwest have become smug about global warming. We have been led to believe that  "conventional wisdom"  (whatever that is) suggests that as the Pacific Northwest warms, the total amount of precipitation and runoff (streamflow) will remain about the same as it is now, but the character of both will change: more of the precipitation will occur as rain and more of the runoff will come earlier in the year as snow melts earlier. Our "conventional wisdom" is based primarily upon the results of coupled global warming - hydrologic models. 

But now the Oregonian reports the results of a new study by USFS researchers suggesting "conventional wisdom" may be incorrect. The studies that led to "conventional wisdom" were based on mean or median values of precipitation; the current study looked at the driest 25% of years since 1948 and found that runoff decreased by 30% or more in most stream and by nearly 50% in some basins.

From Joe Rojas-Burke's story:

Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service looked for changes in the amount of water flowing out of mountain basins since 1948 at 43 rivers and streams across Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana.

Few rivers showed significant declines in runoff until researchers isolated the driest 25 percent of years.

Then nearly three-quarters of river basins showed severe decreases in water flow. Runoff fell by 30 percent or greater in most streams, and by nearly 50 percent at some locations during dry years.

"And those are really important years," says study author Charlie Luce, a Forest Service research hydrologist in Boise.

"Those are the years that test the trees, whether they live, die, or catch on fire. Those are the years that test the fish, that test the farmers and the water managers." The journal Geophysical Research Letters published the study online Aug. 22.

Rojas-Burke reminds us that the Luce study does not prove that dry years are getting drier because of less rain and snow, just that rivers run much lower than they formerly did.

The story continues:

"It is not clear whether precipitation is decreasing, or whether water use is increasing," says Julia Jones, an associate professor in the department of forest ecosystems and society at Oregon State University. [Note: Jones is actually a professor in the Department of Geosciences.]

In the Northwest, forests consume huge amounts of water. Dense, tall stands of native Douglas firs can soak up more than 40 percent of the precipitation that falls in a river basin.

Several land use changes since the 1950s have tended to increase water use, Jones says. Fire suppression has allowed forests to expand in some basins. Clear-cutting of old growth and replanting young, fast-growing trees has increased water consumption in summer. In some watersheds, deep-rooted trees that extract more water than grasses are overtaking abandoned farm fields and pastures.

Warmer springs and falls, due to climate change, could extend the growing season of trees and shrubs -- and their water intake.

No matter the cause, if the trends are real, Jones says, the potential for water conflicts will increase.

Jones' point is a good one.

The story concludes:

"Climate models embody the theory as we understand it," Luce says. "Now we've got a new set of observations that don't quite agree with the theory. People can go out and refine the theory."

Read a copy of the abstract.

As far as I'm concerned, this story illustrates the fact that we haven't yet figured out climate change effects on water resources in the Pacific Northwest. Even if "conventional wisdom" proves correct, we'll still have problems. But with less precipitation and runoff, those problems will intensify.

"Some days I’m optimistic. And then I have my Cassandra days.” -- Philip Mote, Director, Oregon Climate Change Research Institute

2009 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference Program Available

Time to do my AWRA Board of Directors thing again.

The program for the 2009 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference is now online. Check out the oral sessions and the poster sessions.

Hope to see you in Seattle, where I'll no doubt be sleepless. It's going to be a good one!

"If I weren't dead I would be in Seattle for this meeting." -- Robert Horton

Abby Brown: 1) Neighborhood Ground Water Network; 2) Gender and Water in South India

This post is a twofer, courtesy of Abigail (Abby) Abby Brown, my MS student, who also runs the excellent Water for the Ages blog. The post describes two different community-based projects with which she's intimately involved: one in Oregon and the other in South India.

1) Neighborhood Ground Water Network

Abby recently finished a one-year internship with the Neighborhood Ground Water Network, a community-based ground water monitoring program. She was funded by the Oregon Water Resources Department and OSU Extension/Oregon Sea Grant.

Here is her final report:

Download Final Report NGWN

Information from the NGWN WWW site:

The Neighborhood Ground Water Network was a one-year pilot program held in the Eola Hills, northwest of Salem, to teach community members how to measure the water level in their wells while informing them about the importance of ground water systems.
 
During this program, twenty-six participants learned the basics of ground water science, how to measure the water levels in wells, and how to interpret these ground water level measurements. Some of these participants will continue to measure the water levels in their wells under the direction of Spring Valley Watershed Council.
 
Education about ground water systems and ground water level measurement has helped these community members become better prepared to care for wells and ground water supplies into the future.

The Eola Hills Ground Water Limited Area (EHGWLA) is one of ten areas adopted in 1992 that restricts water use from the Columbia River Basalt group of aquifers in the Willamette River Basin. This area was designated a Ground Water Limited Area because of the potential for water level declines.

The EHGWLA is an eighty square-mile area located just northwest of Salem, Oregon. The Willamette River makes up the eastern boundary, Highway 22 makes up the southern boundary, Highway 99W makes up the western boundary, and the northern boundary is just above the Yamhill County line.

2) Gender and Water in South India

Abby is about to embark for India, where she will be studying gender and water issues in the Bangalore area as an intern with the Indian NGO Arghyam. She and Arghyam designed the program, which willl consist of interviews in villages in South India.

She's quite enthused and will do a exceptional job. 

I'm very anxious to see her results; I became interested in such issues about eight years ago when I started working on community water systems in Honduras. 

"Women are responsible for the usage of water, therefore, it is important to develop the capacity of women in the management of water – and that includes getting advanced degrees." -- Anta Seck, water engineer and Director of Water Resource Management and Planning for Senegal

Washington Bans New Wells in Upper Kittitas County - Big Deal, Right?

This article by David Lester in the 16 July 2009 edition of the Yakima Herald-Republic caught my eye. The graphic is from the story.

Big deal, you say - the State of Washington is prohibiting new wells in some basin specifically, the Yakima Basin. In this case, it is a big deal, because the ban includes all new wells, including exempt (domestic) wells and other wells - ones that do not require a permit. 

That's a real stunner. The right to drill a domestic well is viewed by many Westerners as an inalienable right, or maybe the 11th commandment Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai: "Thou shalt not forbid anyone from drilling a domestic well for household, noncommerical use."

In Washington, a 1945 law states that a permit is not required for a domestic or industrial well that does not draw more than 5,000 gallons per day. Livestock wells are also exempt from permits but have no limits on how much they can pump.

The first three paragraphs from Lester's article:

 In a move unprecedented in its scope, the state Department of Ecology imposed an emergency rule Thursday that halts all development relying on new water wells in rural upper Kittitas County.

It's the first time the state has banned the drilling of new wells for private homes, watering livestock and industrial development-- all of which have been unregulated for 64 years and not required a state permit.

Ecology Director Jay Manning said he decided to impose the ban after two years of negotiations with Kittitas County commissioners broke down over a compromise that would have limited the amount of water available for rural developments.

Here is more information from the department.

The rule will remain in effect for 120 days. Some new uses will be allowed, as long as they are mitigated (offset), generally by obtaining and retiring or transferring another water right from the same source.

Why was this done? From the state's news release:

Since 1998, nearly 3,000 wells have been drilled in Kittitas County, prompting concerns that groundwater pumping in the headwaters region of the county threatens senior water users and streamflows in the Yakima Basin. A number of parties, including the citizens group Aqua Permanente, the Yakama Nation, and the city of Roslyn, have asked that Ecology close the groundwater to further appropriation while a groundwater study is completed.

And you can bet there are some who were not happy with the state's decision.

So here's the bottom line: senior water rights holders and streamflows were threatened by more wells in Upper Kittitas County.

Sound familiar? It should. Exactly one year ago today I posted about the Bounds case in New Mexico,  in which Horace and Jo Bounds claimed 45 exempt wells near their property were  impairing their senior water right. State District Judge J.C. Robinson declared unconstitutional a 1972 law that requires the state engineer to approve all requests for new home wells, regardless of the impact to senior water rights holders. The ruling holds only in Luna, Hidalgo, and Grant Counties in the southwest portion of the New Mexico - the three counties in the judge's district.

The case has been appealed but I have not been able to learn the result of the appeal. Some were betting that a higher court would toss out the ruling. If any of you know the outcome of this case, please post a comment.

Here is a guest post by Ray Walker on exempt wells and prior appropriation.

Let me repeat again - this exempt well business is going to get worse before it gets better. States are going to have to bite the bullet, face the music, fish or cut bait - choose your favorite aphorism.

Here in Oregon, the state still allows 15,000 gallons per day for a domestic exempt well - a ridiculously high amount (almost 17 acre-feet per year). The state has no idea how much water these wells really pump. That's no way to be good stewards of the state's water resources.

But the state did increase the exempt well fee to $300.

Don't get me started.

"They are throwing out the baby with the bath water." -- Dave Whitwill, government affairs coordinator for the Central Washington Home Builders in Kittitas County

Salmon in the Columbia-Snake Basin: Dam(n) Removal

Corvallis auteur extraordinaire and friend Paul VanDevelder wrote this Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times a few days ago.

VanDevelder discusses the contentious issue of salmon fishery restoration in the Columbia-Snake Basin and Federal District Court Judge James Redden's eight-word utterance that makes many grown men and women in the Pacific Northwest cry - tears of joy for some, tears of anguish for others: removal of the four Lower Snake River dams (the four red dots on the Snake River just upstream of its confluence with the Columbia River). 

Judge Redden has put this option on the table if all the parties involved don't devise a plan to keep salmon viable.

Here is an earlier article on Redden and the salmon issue from the High Country News.

VanDevelder makes some excellent points, and concludes thusly:

The Columbia-Snake corridor is the salmon's only option for survival, and Redden is probably their last hope. He is the one person in this entire drama who is legally obligated to use science and the law to protect the fish from extinction and from the whims of politicians. If the law and science are unable to trump politics to save this fishery -- a fishery that was the most productive in the world just two generations ago -- how will we ever meet the towering challenges posed by global climate change?

For the sake of the fish and the 500 other species that depend on this wild and "vital resource" for their survival, many of us hope the judge has the resolve to stay the course and to see the job through.

And the quote below indicates that not everyone buys into Redden's approach. As I said earlier, we do live in interesting times.

"Federal law doesn't allow dam removal, and no Democrat-politician-turned-activist-judge can rewrite the law." -- Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), quoted in the article 

June 2009 H2OSU Newsletter - My Last View From 210

Here is the June 2009 issue of the H2OSU newsletter. It marks my final newsletter as Director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds, so my column is filled with plenty of  suggestions about what needs to be done in Oregon regarding water: exempt wells, Columbia-Snake River Basin compact, the groundwater budget myth, Oregon Water Institute, Cascades groundwater, exporting water, and more! 

Enjoy!

"Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits."  -- Mark Twain

May 2009 H2OSU Newsletter

The May 2009 H2OSU Newsletter of the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University is now available. Read all the good, the bad, and the ugly about water. My penultimate column is also there.

Lots of good stuff - enjoy!

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Will the Lower Snake River Dams Come Tumbling Down?

Ken Olsen's cover story in the current (4 May 2009) print edition of the High Country News poses the fascinating question, '"Will a new political order be enough to finally bring the dams down?"

The answer: it appears more likely than it ever has been.

The breaching of these dams would give returning salmon much easier access to spawning grounds in the headwaters streams of Idaho, where relatively high elevations may provide a buffer against the vagaries of global warming.

Ah, we do live in interesting times!   

"Wild fish are in a serious and depleted state and, with the influence of climate change, many stocks are doomed." -- Don Chapman, fisheries scientist and former energy company consultant (quoted in the story)

OSU Spring Speakers' Presentations Now Online

We have now started posting the videos and presentations of the speakers at our Spring seminar series. Here is the schedule of speakers:

Download Hydrophiles_spring2009

Get complete access at the Hydrophiles WWW site.

Enjoy!

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” -- Robert Frost

The Oregonian's Water Series, Part 2: Oregon's Water Demand Opens Door to Special Interests

Les Zaitz's two-part series on Oregon water issues concludes in today's print edition of The Oregonian.

Here is Part 1.

Zaitz's story is still in the Umatilla Basin, but this time the emphasis is on politics, and how a small group of powerful people managed to get the state to fund the Oasis Project - a plan to recharge Columbia River water into an aquifer during the high-flow season, then pump it out in the summer when the irrigation demand is high. [Discloure notice: I am a technical reviewer for the group conducting the feasibility study for the Oasis Project.]

What's that about water flowing to power and money?

As an aside, let me put in a plug for the necessity of a Columbia River Basin compact among the basin states. Things are only going to get uglier here.

"This isn't about science or biology. This is about politics." -- Bob Hale, Hermiston, OR, farm executive, quoted in the article.

The Oregonian's Water Series, Part 1: Oregon Water Issues Run Deep

Les Zaitz's two-part series on Oregon water issues starts in today's print edition of The Oregonian.

The first part focuses on the Umatilla Basin, where restrictions on groundwater pumping threaten to severely limit the economy.  

The only error I could find was the attribution of the authorship of the Oregon Business Plan water report. It was not written solely by Gail Achterman, but was a group effort. In fact, the original report template was authored by my colleague Todd Jarvis, who is not even listed among the authors.

Coming Monday: A high-stakes power play over water for farming shows just how contentious the fight in Oregon has become.

Good reading!

"Every time we turn on a pump, we mine a certain amount of water." -- Todd Jarvis, quoted in the aforementioned story.

Call for Abstracts: 2009 AWRA Annual Water Resources Conference

[Disclosure/shill notice: I am on the Board of Directors of the AWRA.] 

The WWW site for the AWRA Annual Conference is open for business. Abstracts are due 22 May 2009 and must be submitted electronically. 

If you wish to propose a special session, information is available at the abstract submission site.

Early bird registration expires 22 October 2009.

Here is the blurb on the WWW site:

The AWRA Annual Conference will provide a forum for participants to explore the many multidisciplinary aspects of water resources research, policy and management.   In addition to the broad array of water-related topics offered at all AWRA conferences, we welcome submissions on technical, social and legal issues that are of national and international interest, including conflicts over water and efforts to resolve them; recent advances in water resource monitoring, modeling and analysis; effects and responses to drought, floods, and other natural calamities; and collaborative efforts to address transboundary and international water issues.  Attendees will enjoy opportunities for conversations about the many multidisciplinary aspects of water resources, and to make connections that will improve their understanding of the complex water issues of importance everywhere.

The organizers of this conference also encourage sessions that focus on water resources issues in the Pacific Northwest, particularly those having broader national or international implications. We are looking for the latest from academic, policy, as well as planning and demonstration project applications.  Examples include:

• Large scale ecosystem restoration programs in the Pacific Northwest – implementation status, challenges, and outlooks
• Regional and international alliances for water resource management
• Recent landmark decisions or findings affecting water resource management in the region (e.g., biological opinions on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers)
• Current research on Pacific salmon and trends affecting their status
• Water-related urban sustainability and climate change adaptation initiatives in the Pacific Northwest

Other specialty session topics might include regulatory reform, U.S/Canada/Mexico partnerships, adaptive management, water resources in the next decade, Tribal activities, and various hot button issues that have been raised in recent AWRA Specialty Conferences and National Water Resources Policy Dialogues. 

The spacious Red Lion Hotel on 5th Ave in downtown Seattle will serve as the conference venue.  The hotel is adjacent to the vibrant Seattle waterfront, myriad art galleries and museums, and the nationally acclaimed Pike Place Farmers’ Market.  Seattle is at the center of the beautiful and complex Puget Sound ecosystem, and within sight of Mount Rainier and both the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges.  When not engaged in conference activities, Seattle and this area offer a multitude of sights and experiences to enjoy.  You’ll want to extend your stay to allow time to visit some of our islands and other fabulous nearby destinations.  

The Conference will include oral and poster presentations, plenary speakers, panels, field trips, short courses, networking events, and student activities.  Those interested in organizing a fieldtrip or workshop should contact Felix Kristanovich.  All other questions may be directed to the Conference Chair, Cleve Steward.

See you there!

April 2009 H2OSU Newsletter

Get all the latest water news and gossip from Oregon State University with the H2OSU Newsletter from the Institute for Water and Watersheds.

All the news you need to know, plus some that you don't.

Only two of my columns left - get 'em while you can!

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." -- Mark Twain

OSU Graduate Student: Micro-Hydro Feasibility Using Low-Flow Springs

Check out this brief (36 seconds) video introducing Jennifer Holderman, the first joint JD/MS in Water Resources Science student, who is researching the feasibility of generating electricity from low-flow springs in the Oregon Cascades.

Jennifer is a JD student at the University of Oregon School of Law.

Jennifer’s research is made possible by a gift from Mrs. Esther Rada to the Water Resources Management Research Fund at OSU. The fund is used for the study of water and watershed activities and the pursuit of solutions to the water and related environmental problems of Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and the world.

IWW Associate Director  Todd Jarvis is advising Jennifer, and says:

This project was originally suggested to me by the Rada family as a research project for a graduate student. The Institute for Water and Watersheds and the Water Resources Graduate Program were delighted to assign a student to complete the feasibility study as a research project because it fit perfectly within OSU’s Signature Areas of Distinction, as outlined in the university’s strategic plan of Advancing the Science of Sustainable Earth Ecosystems. The project also fits well within the Oregon Built Environment & Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST) program, which researches ways to transform green building and renewable energy research into on-the-ground products, services, and jobs that power Oregon’s green economy. And the Energy Trust of Oregon is also actively researching micro-hydro site suitability using Geographic Information Systems (GIS); we anticipate linking the Rada Family’s investment in the student’s research into this program as one means to ground truth their GIS work.

Talk about the energy-water nexus!

"The human body was designed by a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?” – Unknown

Climate Expert: Effects on the Pacific Northwest

Philip Mote, new head of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, spoke in Corvallis two days ago on the potential changes that global warming could bring to the Pacific Northwest.

Reporter Bennett Hall covered the event and reported on it in the 9 April 2009 Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Are you ready for the news?

Mote mentioned some likely effects:

1) some increase in annual precipitation but a decrease in winter snowpack,   leading to summer water shortages;
2) more frequent and intense forest fires;
3) some additional loss of salmon runs, particularly in the inland Northwest; and
4) rising sea levels.

Projected sea-level rises vary widely, depending on the assumptions behind them.

On the days he's Pollyanna,  Mote foresees a modest 8-inch (18 cm) rise by 2100. But in his Cassandra mode, Mote said if the Antarctic ice sheet melts, as some scientists predict, that could translate into a 26-foot (8 m) jump in ocean levels. In his Apocalypse mode, Mote noted that if Greenland’s ice sheet follows that path, a 48-foot (almost 15 m) rise would result.

Probably coastal property would not be a wise investment.

But here in Oregon, fence-building could be a growth industry.

"Some days I’m optimistic. And then I have my Cassandra days.” -- Philip Mote

Deschutes River Basin: Trouble En Route?

I've posted before on the so-called "peculiar river" of central Oregon, the Deschutes River, which rises in the Cascades and flows north to the Columbia River.

The map is from the DRC.

One of the remarkable things about the upper Deschutes River Basin is the relative degree of comity among water users: municipalities, irrigators, environmentalists, and the Warm Springs Tribe. In many parts of the West, these same groups are often at odds (a euphemism, for sure) with alliances among them as fluid as the substance over which they fight. 

But a recent story by Nick Budnick in the Bend Bulletin suggests that comity could be in jeopardy, however, with a plan to use 'excess' (winter) flows from the Deschutes River and recharge them through the "leaky" Tumalo Reservoir into the aquifer beneath.  By storing the water in the aquifer, additional pumping could later be justified.

Minimum flows of 760 cfs in the Deschutes River would be preserved.

The City of Redmond, Deschutes Valley Water District, and the Avion Water Company are proposing the plan, which had been denied by the Oregon Water Resources Department in 2006. The current plan is a revision of that original one. The City of Bend supports the plan but is not formally involved.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife also opposed the original plan because of deleterious effects on the fishery, but has now approved the pumping of water into the aquifer. The ODFW has not yet approved a permanent right to withdraw that water.

The proposed plan is conceptually similar to an ongoing pilot project in the Umatilla Basin of northeastern Oregon that is partially funded by the state. The plan proposes to take winter water from the Columbia River, recharge it, then pump it out during the summer for irrigation water. Critics of the Deschutes plan point out that the Umatilla plan had more study and better-defined needs.

If approved, the plan would generate as mcuh as 10,000 AF per year, at a cost of about $200 per AF. That's much less than the current cost for "mitigation credits", which now go for about $2,500 per AF. These credits, if purchased by groundwater pumpers from water right holders willing to leave the water in the river, allow them to pump that amount of water from the aquifer. Se we're talking about $25M versus $2M.

One question that begs an answer: “Is the water being recharged into the aquifer going to offset the water you’re taking out if it’s in the wrong place?” As my colleague Todd Jarvis noted, no one has ever performed a tracer test to determine where the recharged water might go.

Read the whole story in the Bend Bulletin; there's a lot more to it.

Is there ever.

“Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows.” – David T. Wolf

Should We Leave the Columbia River Treaty Alone?

The following editorial appeared in the 4 April 2009 edition of the Walla Walla (WA) Union-Bulletin (thanks to www.water.ca).

Renegotiating Columbia River Treaty Would Be Mistake
Once you open something like this, there is no telling what will happen.

By the Editorial Board of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Talk about renegotiating the Columbia River Treaty between the United States and Canada brings two old sayings to mind: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and “Be careful what you wish for.”

No one disputes that the treaty has done exactly what it was supposed to do — it created the framework for the joint operation of dams on the river, divided the power benefits and provided flood control.

In 1948, floods from Canada to Portland caused extensive damage, killing more than 50 people and causing 30,000 people to lose their homes.

“The treaty was primarily concerned with flood control and hydropower generation,” John Harrison, a spokesman for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Portland, said in a story by The Spokesman-Review. “As we know in the 21st century, that’s not enough.”

There is no expiration date on the 1964 treaty but either country can cancel most of its provisions after September 2024 with a 10-year minimum notice.

If the treaty is brought up for renegotiation, there will be a long line of environmentalists, tribe members, land owners, power company representatives and others ready to push their agendas into the document.

What people don’t seem to understand is that once you open something like this, there is no telling what will happen. Some good parts of the treaty may be removed (as well as some dams) and some onerous sections may be added.

The clamor over the need to include coverage of salmon in the treaty is a red herring. There are 16 other U.S-Canadian treaties, including the Pacific Salmon Treaty, that deal with fish.

If that isn’t sufficient, then draft a new, separate agreement that deals with the fish issue.

The current treaty is doing what it is supposed to do. Leave well enough alone.

WaterWired's Take
All well and good, but the USA may not have a choice in the matter if Canada insists upon renegotiating. We certainly need to be prepared if that event occurs.

As the editorial notes, the current treaty covers only flood control and power generation. The hydrologic world is far more complicated than it was in 1964: climate change effects, water quality, water allocation, and environmental flows are now knocking at the door. They weren't even in the neighborhood back then.

Not only should we consider renegotiating the CRT, but we should strongly consider a compact among the Columbia-Snake basin states. The future could get quite ugly and we need to be prepared. A compact can help us deal with tough times.

It may not be broke now, but how about in the future?

"All treaties between great states cease to be binding when they come in conflict with the struggle for existence." -- Otto von Bismarck

What Goes Around, Comes Around: the IWW Follows the AWI

The aphorism comprising part of this post's title is not entirely apropos, but I like the sound of it.

In the most recent H2OSU Newsletter I began my column with an item about the Arizona legislature pulling the plug on the Arizona Water Institute. The AWI, former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano's pet project, was eliminated by the Republican legislature.

Little did I know that the next day, I would be told that the institute I head, the Institute for Water and Watersheds, would have its own plug pulled. No politics involved, except perhaps for campus politics.

I knew the IWW likely had numbered days, for our university funding would expire on 30 June 2009. I had not attracted enough external support, always the bottom line in a research university, to keep the IWW afloat. But last month we had been asked by the OSU administration to propose options to keep the IWW going, and I was prepared to discuss those options, but was told right off the bat at the 11 March meeting that we would be history.

Done deal. Outta here. Already gone. Fait accompli. No opportunity to create our own  Oregon Water Institute.

I'll land on my feet, because I have tenure as a Professor of Geosciences, so I can return to the classroom. It's the extraordinary people who work for me I worry about: Todd Jarvis, Julie Bain, Kathy Motter, Shawn Tucker, and Maria Wright.

I'm biased of course, but the university's decision is short-sighted. Time will tell.

Good post for Friday the 13th.

"As the call, so is the echo."-- Russian proverb

March 2009 H2OSU Newsletter

Time again for the March 2009 H2OSU Newsletter from the Institute for Water and Watersheds!

All the usual good stuff, plus more!

Enjoy!

“News is what somebody somewhere is trying to suppress. The rest is advertising.” – Lord Northcliffe

Preliminary Program Online: Managing Water Resources and Development in a Changing Climate

The preliminary program - both  oral and poster sessions - is now online.  Here is the plenary session. Download a one-pager of the program-at-a-glance. Access all the other information here.

The conference welcome:

The American Water Resources Association (AWRA) is pleased to announce its Spring Specialty Conference "Managing Water Resources and Development in a Changing Climate". The Conference will be held May 4-6, 2009 in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Organizing Committee, AWRA staff, and Alaskans welcome you to Anchorage this spring to take part in the second specialty conference covering a wide-range of climate change and water resource topics.

Ten years ago, the AWRA helped lead the water resources discussion associated with the U.S. National Assessment on the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. A lot has changed in the last ten years. We have gone from debating the potential of changing climate conditions, to trying to understand how to address climate change in engineering design, management and policy, and scientific methods.

With over 200 abstracts submitted for the meeting, we have added additional tracks to include all the outstanding papers accepted. The meeting will provide a wealth of information for attendees with over 35 oral sessions and poster presentations from a broad range of topics including watershed responses, policy and management, international boundary management, and ecosystem responses.

In addition to the range of climate and water resource presentations and technical content, we also will have an excellent field trip showing off some of the classic beauty of Alaska, taking attendees from coastal mountain ranges to glaciers. Several workshops will cover topics from design of hydrologic data stations and analysis tools to GIS tools for decision making. We will also have networking breaks, “dine-around” conversation groups, and other excellent opportunities to network, make connections, and learn from a diverse group of water resource professionals.

We look forward to seeing you in Anchorage in May and know you will have exciting learning opportunities and a great time in our great state!

This will be an excellent conference! Michael R. Lilly (Conference Chair) and Horacio A. Toniolo (Technical Program Chair) have done extraordinary work in assembling a first-rate program. [Disclosure notice: I am on the AWRA Board of Directors and a member of the Technical Committee.]

See you up north! And maybe we can see Russia!

"They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." --Gov. Sarah Palin, on her foreign policy insights into Russia, ABC News interview, 11 September 2008

February 2009 H2OSU Newsletter

 

Hold the phone! The H2OSU Newsletter is here again!

What's up this month?

• My column: Jim Thebaut, the CAVE, Peak Water, 5WWF, Coyote Warrior, etc.

• Research grants awarded

• Featured researcher - Stephanie Ogden

• State of the Willamette River Panel Discussion
  

• Upcoming events

• More great stuff!

“Without Don, we’d be Air Supply.” – Glen Frey, referring to Eagles bandmate Don Henley

Takings Claims in the Klamath Basin

So all is well in the Klamath Basin, right?

Shana Jones of the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) alerted me to this post by Dan Tarlock and Holly Doremus on the CPR blog. I thought it would be worth repeating on WaterWired.

Tarlock and Doremus discuss last week's decision by the Oregon Supreme Court to decide whether irrigators in the Klamath Basin "own" water delivered to them by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Klamath Basin Project (the photo of Tule Lake is from the WWW site). 

 This may not sound significant, but it is, since the irrigators claim they own the water, not simply the right to use the water. There is a huge difference, as Western water law recognizes that people can own rights to water, but not the water itself.

Doremus and Tarlock wrote Water War in the Klamath Basin: Macho Law, Combat Biology, and Dirty Politics, which I have not read.

The first paragraph of their post:

Last week, the Oregon Supreme Court agreed to decide whether irrigators in the Klamath Basin "own" water delivered by the federal Klamath Reclamation Project. This latest development is one more twist in an ongoing property rights case that illustrates both how difficult it can be to determine who holds precisely what rights in western water and how property rights claims, even spurious ones, can frustrate ecosystem restoration efforts.

The last two:

In the end, it won't even be much help to the irrigators themselves. They are unlikely to ultimately win their case. Even if they do, the courts cannot save them from the real threats to farming in the area, global economic and climatic change.

By definition, ecosystem restoration must displace the status quo to some extent. Sometimes, the losers may deserve some help in dealing with transitions. But takings litigation is too crude a tool for calibrating that help. It tells us little about the extent of the pain caused by change, the extent to which that pain is properly charged to the government or (as is clearly the case in the Klamath) has other causes, or about the appropriate way to distribute its costs.

To be continued....you can bet on that.

“We all live under the same sky, but we don’t necessarily share the same horizons.” -- Unknown

An Overview of Water in Oregon

Dr. Brenda O. Bateman, Senior Policy Coordinator extraordinaire at the Oregon Water Resources Department, gave this excellent presentation before the Oregon State Senate  Environment and Natural Rersources Committee on 20 January 2009.

Download 2009-01-20 SENR Presentation

Enjoy!

“In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” – Margaret Thatcher

Washington's Loss is Our Gain - Dr. Philip Mote Leads Oregon Climate Change Research Institute

Allow me some chest-thumping on behalf of my adopted home state.

It's great to welcome Dr. Philip W. Mote, the soon-to-be erstwhile Washington State Climatologist, to Oregon, where he will head the new Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI). He will also become a professor in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science at Oregon State University, where the institute will be located. He will begin his new duties on a part-time basis in the spring, transitioning to full-time in the summer of 2009.

Phil has been Washington’s state climatologist since 2003, a research scientist with the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington, where he has worked since 1998, and an affiliate professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. He has a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the UW and received his undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard University.

Mote is a leading scientist on the impacts of climate change, including variations in Pacific Northwest and national snowpacks, sea levels, water resources, precipitation and temperatures. He was a lead author for the fourth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received a Nobel Prize for its efforts.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said, "I am pleased that Phil Mote has agreed to be the first director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute. This institute will be critical to advancing Oregon’s position as a leader in climate change research and policy development, and Phil’s world class background in this area will help ensure Oregon continues to be a leading resource on climate science nationally and around the globe."

“I am really excited to lead this new institute, building partnerships both among researchers across the Oregon University System and between researchers and people who need to understand what climate means for them – whether in state government, the private sector, or whatever,” Mote said.

“The level of enthusiasm among researchers and many other Oregonians for this new institute is part of what made this job so appealing,” Mote added.

Read the entire media release (the source of most of the above).

I am very excited about having Phil as a colleague. His reputation and expertise are legendary, not just in the Pacific Northwest, but around the globe.

In the vernacular, his dance card will be quite full.

Welcome, Phil!

“We must dare to think “unthinkable” thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world.” – former Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-AR)

Oregon Water Funding: Down the Drain

Todd Jarvis sent me Robin Doussard's article from the Oregon Business Magazine.

Significant Water Funding Sinks

 It was an ambitious plan felled by the collapsing economy. But since we’re talking water, contentiousness also played a hand.

The governor in the spring began a serious attempt to wrangle the state’s many water issues and proposed a $100 million effort, called Headwaters to Ocean (H2O) that would address wide-ranging water supply and quality issues and finally create a long-term water management strategy. Oregon is one of only two Western states without a comprehensive water plan.

Over the past several months, an advisory group to Headwaters to Ocean worked over the early proposal. Included were representatives from environmental groups, cities, tribes, agriculture and others with a stake in water.

In early September, “We concluded that there was not enough agreement among stakeholders to build a consensus in time to propose [a water plan] to the January Legislature,” says Mike Carrier, the governor’s natural resources policy director. So the group was asked to focus on asking for legislative support to continue designing an initiative as well as immediate needs for 2009. In November it delivered a proposal for a $55 million lottery-backed bond package that would have provided financing for Umatilla Basin water projects, along with more than $16 million for water agency budget initiatives. Then the economy tanked. When the governor issued his recommended budget in early December, what was left of water-related funding was a trickle: $3.3 million to fund the first phase of the Umatilla Basin project and to support the development of a long-term water initiative.

“What we hoped to do last spring when we rolled out H2O was to ask the Legislature to fund this initiative,” says Carrier. “Now we are asking for the funds to complete the planning for this initiative. Then we will come back in a 2010 special session or the 2011 Legislature with a strategy.”

The governor’s budget includes $2.5 million, to be funded by lottery-backed bonds, for a recharge project in the Umatilla Basin. The basin has suffered sharp groundwater declines and this project would divert winter-month water from the Columbia River into the aquifer for irrigation in the basin. Eastern Oregon was the region that spawned the controversial “Oasis Bill” that was defeated in the last session, which sought to pull more water from the Columbia year round. The  budget also includes about $492,000 for the Water Resources Department and DEQ to help get the water strategy done.

“Given how serious this financial situation is, we’re fortunate to put $3.3 million toward water issues,” says Carrier. “The number could have easily been zero.”

But hey, we've got plenty of water in Oregon!  We don't need no stinkin' money!

In fairness, the H-2-O Initiative alluded to in the article was not particularly well-crafted. and needed to be redone. But the $1M+ I requested was brilliantly constructed and worth  every penny.

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” -- Isaac Asimov

H2OSU January 2009 Newsletter

It's that time again - The H2OSU Newsletter from the IWW is now available. What's inside? How about: Presidential appointments (or lack thereof); ASR & AR; film series, new Oregon Climate Change Research Institute director, and more!

Plus the usual humor and stuff.

"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge." -- Thomas Brackett Reed

Reuniting the Klamath River?

Great story and pictures from the December 2008 National Geographic. Could peace be in the offing? I'll believe when I see it.

By the way, the question mark is my addition.

Here are two recent posts on the Klamath situation: 25 November 2008 and 14 November 2008.

From Russ Rymer's article:

After fighting for years over its water, farmers, Indians,and fishermen are joining forces to let the troubled Klamath River run wild again. As drought years have become more problematic in the Klamath region, the competing water needs for fish and for farmers' fields have aggravated the rivalry between the Indian tribes living near the northern California coast and the irrigating farmers upstream along Oregon's arid southern border.

  The trouble, as farmers see it, came to a boiling point in 1997. That's the year coho salmon were accorded federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, which would entitle them to minimum flows of water. In 2001 tensions came to a dramatic head when the federal government shut off irrigation water to some 1,400 Klamath Reclamation Project farmers, including Steve Kandra. The families felt singled out—"Farmers aren't used to being vilified," Kandra notes—and some responded with civil disobedience. They partially opened the irrigation canals' headgates in defiance of federal marshals and queued up for a symbolic bucket brigade through the streets of Klamath Falls, Oregon.

“Our Northern California congressional district has been ground zero for many tragic events from an outdated and inflexible ESA, including ... the Klamath Basin water shut-off of 2001.” -- Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA)