Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

The Bureau of Reclamation has scheduled a negotiation session with Madera Irrigation District regarding the potential delivery, storage and return of federal Central Valley Project water into and out of the Madera Irrigation District’s Water Supply Enhancement Project, also known as the Madera Ranch groundwater bank.

In 2011, Madera Irrigation District officially (MID) opened the Madera Ranch facility for operation. The Madera Ranch groundwater banking facility is intended to enhance water supply reliability and flexibility by using the space underground for surface water storage (water banking), thereby reducing aquifer overdraft in Madera County and encouraging conjunctive use in the Madera County region as a means toward regional self-sufficiency.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, Section 206, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to participate in non-federal groundwater banking programs to increase the operational flexibility, reliability and efficient use of water in California, including making payments for the storage of Central Valley Project water supplies, the purchase of stored water, the purchase of shares or an interest in groundwater banking facilities or the use of CVP water as a medium of payment for groundwater banking services.

The terms and conditions to be negotiated in an agreement between the Reclamation and MID would provide for a partnership which has the potential to increase the reliability of CVP water supply for the refuges in the San Joaquin Valley and other project purposes.

Water banking in Kittitas County is allowing residential development on lands that had no historic water rights for domestic use. Water banks are also offsetting out-of-priority water use by camps and cabin owners and supporting construction work on Interstate 90 (I-90).

Enough water for approximately 1,400 new homes and 73 acres of outdoor irrigation has been authorized since the Department of Ecology (Ecology) began issuing the first water banking decisions in April 2010 for upper Kittitas County where groundwater use is regulated.

“A few years ago, ‘water banking,’ ‘mitigation water’ and ‘water-right transfers’ were foreign concepts to many people,” said Mark Kemner, Ecology’s water resources manager in Yakima. “Now we’re seeing a robust water market that’s allowing for growth and providing protection against impairing the rights of downstream water users.”

At least three new water banks are poised to come online in early 2012 that will serve areas including Lake Kachess, the Teanaway Basin and Fowler Creek, Kemner said.

Existing water banks include Suncadia, Northland Resources, Swiftwater LLC, Starkovich, Yakima Mitigation Water Services, and Swauk Basin all in upper county; Reecer Creek (SC Aggregate), Manastash Creek (Williams and Amerivest) both in lower county.

Like a personal bank account, water banks must have deposits to back up withdrawals. Existing senior water rights are transferred into a bank (deposits) and made available as mitigation to offset impacts from new groundwater uses (withdrawals). The amount of mitigation water available in the bank at any given time is the account balance.

It is projected that more than $75 million will be added to the economy and 800 jobs supported statewide when all the domestic water in the existing banks is allocated and serving fully built-out residential developments in Kittitas County.

Also, in 2011 Ecology acquired 60 acre-feet of mitigation water for camps and cabin owners located not only in upper Kittitas County but throughout the greater Yakima Basin where surface water rights may be turned off by court order during years of drought. The water is available to offset the consumptive use of some 132 water users whose rights are junior to the Yakima Basin Irrigation Project.

Water banks can be used for purposes other than domestic water supplies. For example, the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) water bank is offsetting impacts to water supplies during highway expansion and upgrades along I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass that began during the summer of 2010.

Unmitigated withdrawals are taxing an already over-committed water supply in the Yakima Basin, threatening the rights of senior water right holders and harming the basin’s water-dependent economy and fish runs. Protecting these resources preserves the $1.5 billion agricultural economy in Kittitas, Yakima and Benton counties.

New groundwater uses in upper Kittitas County are not allowed unless backed by a senior water right and no new unmitigated water rights have been issued in the entire Yakima Basin (from Snoqualmie Pass to Benton City) for more than a decade. Water banking provides opportunities for development by moving existing water rights to new uses under a market-based model.

More water supply opportunities will soon be available with two new water banks starting up in Kittitas County.

In the upper Kittitas Valley, the SwiftWater Ranch Water Bank offers mitigation for new groundwater uses for projects in the lower Teanaway River Basin, east along State Route 970 and northwest to Cle Elum along Interstate 90. The bank provides mitigation in an area not suited to the Suncadia Anderson and Lamb rights.

Currently, new groundwater withdrawals must be offset by an existing senior (specifically, pre-1905) water right.

In the lower Kittitas Valley, the Williams-Amerivest Manastash Creek Water Bank will offer senior water right coverage from the Thorpe area downstream to the entrance of the Yakima River Canyon below Ellensburg.

“More options are becoming available in areas where mitigation water hasn’t been available to new residential water users,” explained Bob Barwin, with the Department of Ecology’s water resources program. “Those with senior water rights are finding opportunities to market their water where they decide they no longer require it for their own use.”

Senior water offered through the banks provides mitigation for impacts to the Yakima River sustained by new groundwater pumping in the area. The mitigation water assures that new groundwater uses don’t compromise the Yakima Basin Total Water Supply Available (TWSA) managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Irrigation Project, serving senior water users downstream.

Water rights for both banking programs are being transferred into the state’s Trust Water Right Program. The trust water rights will vary in effectiveness to serve as mitigation for new ground water users, depending primarily on where the proposed new use of ground water will be located.

More information is available online at the Kittitas Water Exchange.

A $300,000 WaterSmart grant is helping the Umatilla Basin Water Commission continue moving toward establishment of a water bank.

The Hermiston Herald reported on June 1 that “According to J.R. Cook, executive director for the commission, the grant will be used to help set up a water “bank” that could eventually allow groundwater rights holders to exchange their rights for water from the Columbia River.”

It also notes that as water levels have been declining, “Cook said allowing water users, including farmers, industry and municipalities, to access the Columbia River could help increase instream flows along the Umatilla River and provide more water to agriculture in areas such as Pendleton, Pilot Rock and Heppner.”

The Washington Department of Ecology is poised to approve a new water banking program that could provide enough domestic water for at least 100 homes in the lower Swauk Creek basin.

The proposed Swauk Basin water bank would make mitigation water available for new groundwater uses in the Upper Kittitas area now closed to new withdrawals unless backed by senior water rights. Mitigation may generally be accomplished by acquiring an existing water right in the same water source.

The new bank will open up opportunities for development in the tributary reach, an area straddling Swauk Creek roughly northeast of State Route 10 and south of State Route 970, which did not qualify for coverage under the umbrella of the original Suncadia water bank. Last year, Ecology approved senior water rights owned by Suncadia LLC as offsetting mitigation for qualifying purchasers.

A package of senior rights representing water now diverted from First Creek for summer crops and winter stockwatering will be transferred into the state’s Trust Water Program to boost stream flows in both First Creek and Swauk Creek. In exchange, cropland now watered will be fallowed and diversion from First Creek for winter stockwatering would be discontinued.

Comments are now being accepted on the proposed agreement that would transfer some 34-acre-feet of water into the state’s Trust Water Program. Comments may be made to Kelsey Collins, Department of Ecology, 15 W. Yakima Ave., Suite 200, Yakima, WA 98902; phone: 509 575-2640 e-mail: kelsey.collins@ecy.wa.gov, until April 4, 2011.

More information is available online at the Swauk Basin Water Banking web page.

The price of farmland in central Nebraska is going up, and that means the price of water in the area is rising as well.

That was the conclusion of the Central Platte Natural Resources District, whose governing board also okayed a recommendation to increase an existing rate of $2,500 to $3,500 per acre-foot credit to the river.

The district also heps operate a water bank, and prices there will reflect the changes. Credits for the water bank similarly will cost $3,500, plus the usual 10% add-on.

The Bureau of Reclamation has released for public review a Draft Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for construction of a groundwater bank by the Fresno Irrigation District. Reclamation would partially finance the facility with a $300,000 grant under the 2009 Water Conservation Challenge Grant Program.

The 23-acre Oleander Basin Banking Project would be used to store Fresno Irrigation District surplus Kings River and Central Valley Project surface water supplies in an underground aquifer for later use. Up to about 4,500 acre-feet would be drawn from the bank annually. The project would be located northeast of the intersection of Lincoln and Chestnut avenues in Fresno County, California.

The 2009 Water Conservation Challenge Grant Program provides partial funding for water management improvement projects and the recipient provides the rest of the funds. The FID would combine the $300,000 grant with more than $1.3 million of its funds to construct its water banking project.

The Draft Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact were prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, and are available online at online.

Efforts by the Australian federal government to buy back water rights, largely for environmental purposes, seem to be developing a mix of reactions around the country.

On one hand, a lot of sales seem to be underway.

The Australian has reported that “THE federal-state compromise on water trading has had immediate effect, as farmers in Victoria are already negotiating with the commonwealth to sell more than 80 billion litres of water. The Australian has learned the Victorian Farmers Federation is helping several groups of farmers in the north of the state sell their water rights – worth a total of $64 million on current prices – and exit the industry with some dignity. As reported in The Weekend Australian, the Victorian and federal governments have struck a deal to lift the state’s irrigation cap in some cases to facilitate the commowealth’s $3.1 billion environmental water buyback.”

However, from the Victorian Farmers Federation:

The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) has acknowledged that today’s Commonwealth – Victorian Water Agreement will retain the four percent cap on water trading until at least 2011. Today’s agreement will introduce a more strategic approach to obtaining water for the environment. Continue Reading »

A study being sought by Montana Trout Unlimited, backed by the state natural resources agency and possibly to be funded by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, might examine how water banking could be used to offset gaps and heavy uses by groundwater pumpers.

Water operations in Washington, Oregon and Idaho might be closely examined as part of the same project.

The Montana Legislature’s Water Policy Interim Committee also is looking into the idea.

[see Belgrade (MT) News, June 2]

Californias’s water bank is running hard n this water-tight year. According to the Marysville Appeal-Democrat:

“The Department of Water Resources’ Drought Water Bank is buying water for $275 per acre-foot from willing water rights holders upstream of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The water would then be transferred to entities suffering water shortages.”

The volumes sound as if they may be substantial.