WaterWired

CRS In Focus Report: Reclamation Water Storage Projects - Section 4007 of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act

Brief two-page CRS In Focus report from Charles V. Stern: Reclamation Water Storage Projects: Section 4007 of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (updated 2 April 2019). 

Download CRS_InFocus_USBR_3April2019

Introduction
Section 4007 of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN Act; P.L. 114-322), enacted in December 2016, created a new authority for the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation, part of the Department of the Interior) to build water storage projects in the western United States. Reclamation has used this authority to further progress on a number of water storage projects. From FY2017 to FY2019, Congress appropriated the full $335 million in available budget authority for these projects. A portion of these funds has been allocated at the project level by Reclamation.

Some federal and state decisionmakers, local stakeholders, and advocacy groups are interested in extending the authority to make additional headway on water storage projects in the West. Others oppose federal funding for new water storage projects, in particular those to be located in environmentally sensitive areas. This In Focus discusses the Section 4007 authority and its status.

Background
In the early and mid-20th century, Reclamation built hundreds of large dams and water diversion structures throughout the West. Traditionally, Reclamation’s role inwater project development has been limited to geographically specific projects authorized in federal statute. Typically, the federal government, through discretionary appropriations to Reclamation, has provided full, up-front funding for the construction costs of these facilities. Project beneficiaries, which are irrigators, municipal water suppliers, and hydropower contractors, repay their portion of project construction or development costs over a 40-50 year term. The amount recouped by the federal government typically depends on several factors, including the portion of project benefits that are nonreimbursable because they are considered federal in nature (e.g., fish and wildlife enhancements, flood control, recreation), as well as adjustments for irrigation contractors’ ability to pay. Additionally, irrigation beneficiaries are not charged interest on their repayment obligations. As a result, the total amount repaid to the federal government for these projects is typically less than the full cost of construction.

I

Wonder how much Reclamation is invested in managed aquifer recharge as a means to store water? Not much.

Enjoy!

"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan (quoted in @sunjournal via @TheWeek)

Gerald Sehlke AWRA IWRM Conference Presentation: 'A Conceptual Model for Developing and Implementing IWRM'

IWRM guru Dr. Gerald (Jerry) Sehlke presented this innovative approach to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). You can read Jerry's abstract here (bottom right of page 1 and top left of page 2). I have also pasted it below.

Abstract

The most broadly accepted definition of IWRM is:

“A process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.”

In order to develop such processes, we must design, develop and implement holistic approaches that integrate and harmonize water resources governance (policy and laws), socioeconomic policies and goals, and the physical and environmental aspects of water resources management.  IWRM programs need to develop the governance, institutional, scientific, and operational capacities necessary for implementing these activities. In addition, IWRM programs need to inventory, develop, and manage all hydrologically interconnected water resources as a unitary source from a hydrologic cycle perspective, at the appropriate basin, sub-basin or “catchment” (watershed) scale. This includes developing water policies and laws that are scientifically-based such that they comport with the physical laws that govern the movement and storage of water.  It also includes developing physically-base conceptual models for identifying, delineating, and linking hydrologically interconnected water resources in a consistent and scalable manner.  

This discussion provides a conceptual model that demonstrates the links between such policies and laws, and physically-base conceptual models of a “competent hydrologic unit.”

Download Conceptual Model Presentation_Sehlke_032419

Enjoy!

"I am so excited about this year’s course evaluations! Students will evaluate how biased their professors are in presenting their course materials!" - @ass_deans

Tony Willardson AWRA IWRM Conference Presentation: 'Governing with Imagination: Managing the Unmanageable'

At the recent AWRA IWRM conference in Omaha Tony Willardson, the scholarly and gentlemanly Executive Director of the Western States Water Council, gave an excelent keynote presentation.

Here is a PDF of his PPT:

Download 2019 AWRA Willardson Omaha 0325

From the presentation:

                 Our Present Condition

Water in the West is an increasingly scarce and precious resource.  Western States have and will continue to face unique hydrologic, legal and infrastructure challenges.  Population growth, competing economic and ecological demands, and changing social values have left surface and ground water supplies stressed in many areas.  This has increased the number and complexity of conflicts among users and uses. 

A secure water future is becoming more costly and increasingly uncertain given our unpredictable climate, aging and often inadequate infrastructure, data limitations regarding water supplies and demands, competing or poorly defined water rights, and a constantly evolving regulatory landscape.  Effectively addressing these challenges will require stronger collaboration and cooperation that transcends political and geographic boundaries between states, federal agencies, tribes, and local communities.

Enjoy!

“I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.” - Joseph Smith, Prophet, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (thanks to Tony Willardson) 

President Trump Federalizes Lake Tahoe, Unveils TRUMPP: Tahoe Regional Underground Mountain Pipeline Project

In an early-morning 1 April 2019 Tweet President Donald J. Trump announced that he had signed an Executive Order federalizing Lake Tahoe and authorizing TRUMPP, the Tahoe Regional Underground Mountain Pipeline Project:

(1/2) New TRUMPP plan will boost American jobs, use WV coal, provide water to over-regulated farmers & build infrastructure.

(2/2) Nothing for loser states OR, CA, NV, WA! Total disasters! TRUMPP – Tahoe Regional Underground Mountain Pipeline Project - Making America Great Again!

The President later explained what TRUMPP really is at a White House press conference.  

"My action means that the US government now owns Lake Tahoe and all its water. My engineer friends - and I have many, many engineer friends, some Muslims and Mexicans, even  - tell me the lake holds 40 trillion gallons of water, and that is a YUGE amount of water, believe me!" I will then build - and I know how to build things, believe me - a YUGE pipeline to pump water from the lake and distribute it to the parched Western states of Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma, and Texas.   

Hands from the reporters immediately went up.

"April Foolz, from the failing New York Times, what is your question? And stop shaking your head!"

"Mr. President, you have omitted the Western states of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. Why? Could it be that you did not carry any of those states?"

"Ms. Foolz, those states are total disasters, with losers for governors. Believe me, low energy types, like total loser Jeb Bush. Nevada and California do not deserve Lake Tahoe's bounty. Many, many illegal immigrants in those states were allowed to cast millions and millions of votes against me for Crooked Hillary. Totally rigged. Disgusting. Sad."

Trump added:

"Some people in California will get TRUMPP water from a special pipeline going directly to the over-regulated farmers in the Central Valley. The farmers there have been deprived of water by the over-regulatory losers at the failing EPA, who have robbed the farmers of their ability to make America great again. My EO stipulates that only Central Valley irrigators can get TRUMPP water that flows to California. Believe me."   

"TRUMPP will be the crown jewel in the tiara that will be President Trump's legacy," said U.R. "Bud" Uggley, White House spokesperson.  This could be his pièce de résistance - that's French, by the way - I mean really big, and he will be fondly remembered for the TRUMPP," he said. Uggley then introduced Ima Bedd-Wetter, newly-appointed U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner, who described TRUMPP.

"The Tahoe National Forest Supervisor, Hazel Nutt, tells me that the lake, which holds 40 trillion gallons of water, is the purest natural water in the world. Lake Tahoe is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world, so anything associated with it will automatically achieve marketing nirvana." Nutt seconded Bedd-Wetter's assessment with a resounding "It's awesome!"

Trump promptly interjected:

"See. I have women in the top jobs. I love women. I love the women. Right? 

Bedd-Wetter then elaborated upon TRUMPP.

"We'll reserve 4 trillion gallons of the lake's water for bottling, which means we can fill 32 trillion 16-ounce bottles with the purest water in the world. We will sell that for an average of $3 a bottle over the life of the project. Do you know how much money that is? That's $96 trillion!" she said. "Do you know how much of that will be profit? $90 trillion! And that's after paying the Trump Organization subsidiary, Kushner Recycling And Plant Systems (KRAPS), to do the bottling. All we do is collect the money! Can you believe the profit? We can probably pay for the anticipated BULSHIT (Baluchistan-Uzbekistan-Lebanon-Syria-Hamas-Iran-Turkmenistan) War," she gushed.

The novel aspect of the TRUMPP is that Lake Tahoe will appear unchanged. Sophisticated engineering provided by the Trump Organization subsidiary, Best Lucite And Maintenance Engineering (BLAME), will do the trick. BLAME's Chief Engineer, Anita Mann, waxed enthusiastically about her team's ingenious plan. "We'll install a thick, watertight Lucite slab about 50 feet below the lake's surface, which will be painted to look like the lake bottom.  That will create the illusion that all the water is still there. We will then tunnel through the mountains to the lake bottom and start pumping out the water via a huge PVC pipeline almost 20 feet in diameter," she said. "But we're not done. The energy provided by the water rushing out will be used to run electrical generators to supply most of the western US needs. It's really quite remarkable," she added.

Freda Press of the Bakersfield Bloviator asked how much water would remain in the lake above the slab. "No hay problema! About 200,000 acre-feet, or about 64 billion gallons," replied Mann. "That's still a lot of water left behind, so who's going to miss the rest?" she said.

Ben Dover of the Sacramento Buzz questioned the plan. "Won't people know what's been done, having seen the massive construction project and pipeline?" he inquired.

"Aha!", proudly interjected Bud Uggley, "We've figured that one out. We are going to do all the construction only at night, so no one will see what we're doing.  And since no one fishes or swims in the lake, they won't know that it is only 50 feet deep! Are we smart or what?" Uggley then added that it was President Trump himself who conceived the plan to work at night, thus avoiding detection.

Mann admitted that the scheme is not a new one, but is based upon one proposed by former University of Nevada hydrologist Dick Bateman in the 1970s to mitigate Nevada' s drought. Since the state could not legally extract more water from Lake Tahoe, Bateman proposed installing a watertight Lucite slab 15 feet below the lake's surface, drilling a tunnel west from Carson City, and sucking out all the water from under California's nose. Mann noted that Nevada has been doing this for 40 years, and no one's caught on. "It's foolproof," she said. "Hey - get it? Foolproof on April 1!" she exclaimed. 

Stu Pendus of the Las Vegas Review-Urinal asked if it were true that the remaining one trillion gallons would be sold to Las Vegas. Bedd-Wetter corroborated that and said, "That's about 3 million acre-feet, enough to supply Las Vegas' current needs for almost 10 years. At $10,000 an acre-foot, that is $30B.". Although that is just a fraction of what could be made by bottling the water, Uggley suggested that this was an example of President Trump's concern for the people of Las Vegas -- sacrificing some profit to ensure that a national treasure like Las Vegas would endure and thrive and ensure water for the Trump Organization's many properties in Sin City.

BLAME Chief Engineer Mann said that the construction of the pipeline to Las Vegas will be subcontracted to the Mexican firm, ABRIL-TONTO, which will help mitigate the USA's "illegal immigrant" problem by hiring thousands to dig the the pipeline trench in return for a couple of bus tickets to Nogales, AZ. The firm's Chief Engineer, retired U.S. Army Gen. Alberto "Al" Muerzo, mastermind of the Colorado River Access Project (CRAP), commented, "No hay problema!"

Project Environmental Manager Sonny Summer-Day noted that the EIS completed by the Trump Organization  subsidiary, Research Environmental Action Management (REAM), found no significant impacts. "It's just a bunch of rock we're drilling through, and laying a pipeline through the desert. I mean, what lives in a desert?" he stated.

Uggley interrupted Summer-Day, noting that the benefit-cost ratio for the entire project was calculated at 345,000.071/1 by Professor Lotta Krapp at the Meyer Lanksy School of Accounting at the South Henderson Institute of Technology in Henderson, NV. "Or maybe it was 1/345,000.071? I always get that stuff mixed up," he chuckled.

But Gen. Muerzo vehemently denied that the 20-foot (inside diameter) pipeline would be used to ship the illegals to the Southwest USA, and then to Mexico"

"They presumably would be strapped to 'surfboard-like objects' and 'floated' to Las Vegas, a process known as 'waterboarding'. "Besides, even if we planned to do that, waterboarding is not torture; we don't torture people."

Uggley concluded the press conference by introducing some Las Vegas dignitaries: Pat Yorlum, Chief Person in Charge of the Southern Nevada Aqua Grabbers (SNAG); Dwayne "Botox" Newman, famous entertainer who was recently designated Nevada State Fossil; and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel III, grandson of the famous entrepreneur whose vision created modern-day Las Vegas. Mayor Oscar "Nolo Contendere" Goodfellas, unable to attend because of an arraignment hearing, was represented by Las Vegas City Attorney Anthony "Tony the Mole" LaPuca, who attempted to read a prepared statement: "Hiz honnah sends his regrets. He's reely sorry he can't bee hear. He tanks da government for da wattah to keep Las Vegas a-float. And I tanks ya as well."

When a reporter asked about the pipeline to the other parched Western states, the millions of jobs, and the WV coal and shouted,

"But none of this makes any sense. It's totally incoherent!"  

a spokesman replied that President Trump will discuss all this later but he has to go to Las Vegas to preside at the opening of the new Trump Organization property, Fantasy Nation. [Фантазия нации]

Expected TRUMPP completion date is 2030, when USA troop strength in the Middle East and Central Asia is expected to be down to 500,000.

!Feliz Día de los Inocentes!

С Первым Апреля!

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS' DAY!

Paper: 'Interactions between Climate Change and Complex Topography Drive Observed Streamflow Changes in the Colorado River Basin'

Just received this from friend and OSU colleague Sean Fleming.

Solander KC, Bennett KE, Fleming SW, Gutzler DS, Hopkins EM, Middleton RS.  2018. Interactions between climate change and complex topography drive observed streamflow changes in the Colorado River Basin. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 19: 1637-1650. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-18-0012.1

Download SolanderEtAl_Journal_Hydrometeorology_2018

Abstract
The Colorado River basin (CRB) is one of the most important watersheds for energy, water, and food security in the United States. CRB water supports 15% of U.S. food production, more than 50 GW of electricity capacity, and one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. Energy–water–food nexus impacts from climate change are projected to increase in the CRB. These include a higher incidence of extreme events, widespread snow-to-rain regime shifts, and a higher frequency and magnitude of climate-driven disturbances. Here, we empirically show how the historical annual streamflow maximum and hydrograph centroid timing relate to temperature, precipitation, and snow. In addition, we show how these hydroclimatic relationships vary with elevation and how the elevation dependence has changed over this historical observational record. We find temperature and precipitation have a relatively weak relation (|r| < 0.3) to interannual variations in streamflow timing and extremes at low elevations (<1500 m), but a relatively strong relation (|r| > 0.5) at high elevations (>2300 m) where more snow occurs in the CRB. The threshold elevation where this relationship is strongest (|r| > 0.5) is moving uphill at a rate of up to 4.8 m yr⁻¹ (p = 0.11) and 6.1 m yr⁻¹ (p = 0.01) for temperature and precipitation, respectively. Based on these findings, we hypothesize where warming and precipitation-related streamflow changes are likely to be most severe using a watershed-scale vulnerability map to prioritize areas for further research and to inform energy, water, and food resource management in the CRB.

Cutting to the chase....

Conclusion
We empirically quantified key climatic drivers of annual Qmax and annual CT, the dependence of these hydroclimatic relationships with elevation, and linear trend rates in the elevation dependence relationships over the past 60 years in the CRB. Our results indicate a threshold elevation of 2300 m, above which correlations between temperature, precipitation, and streamflow were generally strong (jr2j . 0.50). Given that this elevation threshold aligns with the locations where snow plays an important role in streamflow, we conclude that changes in snow and snowmelt from warming are largely driving the variability in annual Qmax and annual CT. The mean elevations at which Qmax and CT exhibit a strong sensitivity to April–May temperature variability are increasing by up to 4.8 and 2.2 m yr⁻¹, respectively, suggesting that warming-induced changes in snowmelt or phase shifts in snow are changing the relationship between climate and streamflow within the CRB.

Based on our findings and because warming trends are expected to continue, more severe changes in streamflow are anticipated in the future, particularly for CRB watersheds above the critical elevation threshold of 2300 m or those immediately downgradient. These regions are highlighted for the CRB in a vulnerability map that depicts watersheds where water resources are likely to be most vulnerable to changes in annual Qmax and annual CT. Such an analysis is useful for targeted management improvements to address energy, water, and food supply concerns. Simulating these changes within hydrology and climate models coupled to energy, water, and food supply or flood models will be necessary to pinpoint how these resources and critical infrastructure will be affected and to mitigate potentially associated economic or environmental losses using new river management and planning protocols.

May we live in interesting times (apologies to the Chinese).

Enjoy!

“The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes