Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

A pilot program is making Columbia River water available for lease in Walla Walla County.

The Washington State Department of Ecology’s Office of Columbia River is making temporary water permits available under a lease partnership with the Port of Walla Walla, owner of some 4,769 acre-feet of water formerly used to irrigate a poplar farm.

Water must be withdrawn from the Columbia River or adjacent groundwater and used within the Walla Walla watershed (Water Resources Inventory Area 32). Permits will be issued for temporary uses of up to 10 years, subject to annual review.

The water will be available beginning August 1, at a cost-recovery rate of $105 per acre foot, per year.

Interested parties are encouraged to contact Mark Schuppe, 509-454-4238, for more information. Application information is available online.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin on July 29 issued its opinion rejecting the Lower Colorado River Authority’s claim of immunity from suit, ruling in favor of San Antonio Water System in an appeal filed last year. The Third Court of Appeals remanded the case back to the lower court for trial to determine if LCRA breached its contract with SAWS.

“LCRA’s claim of immunity was a disservice to San Antonio and placed the validity of water agreements throughout the region at risk. We believe that the court made the right decision for the right reasons,” said Robert R. Puente, SAWS President/CEO. “We look forward to finally addressing LCRA’s breach of contract in court, and hope to obtain recovery of our ratepayers’ losses in connection with this water project.”

In August 2009, SAWS filed suit against LCRA for breach of contract following action taken by LCRA’s board to unilaterally withdraw from the agencies’ shared water supply project under development at the time. The project would have benefited the entire lower Colorado River basin and San Antonio by developing innovative conservation measures and new storage capacity in the Colorado River basin, while maintaining reserves in Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan and providing water to San Antonio.

SAWS has paid LCRA over $40 million for project studies and option fees. In addition, SAWS has invested seven years of planning and staff effort in the project SAWS anticipates that the cost of replacing this water from another source will exceed $1 billion.

LCRA asserted that the contract could not be enforced in court because LCRA was immune from suit. In February 2010, a Travis County judge agreed, and dismissed the case. Realizing the potential impact of this ruling on water supply contracts between local governments throughout the state, the SAWS Board of Trustees voted to appeal the ruling, leading to today’s decision.

The Washington Supreme Court on July 28 ruled that Kittitas County must adopt a comprehensive plan and development regulations that are protective of groundwater, pursuant to Growth Management Act laws.

In upholding the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board’s invalidation of the County’s regulations, the Court concluded that “the County is not precluded and, in fact, is required to plan for the protection of water resources in its land use planning” and that the County’s evasion of water permitting laws “could come at a great cost to the existing water rights of nearby property owners . . . if subdivisions and developments overuse the well permit exemption, contrary to the law.”

In a statement from the group Environmental Law and Policy:

“Many counties are doing exactly what Kittitas has done, allowing developers to use the domestic well exemption from water right permitting to serve multiple parcels. The Court is directing that counties stop this illegal activity,” said Rachael Osborn, director of the Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CELP), a public interest water policy organization that filed a “friend of the court” brief in the case.

“The Court’s holding affirms a common-sense proposition: counties must make sure that new development relies on legal uses of water,” said Amanda Goodin, an attorney with Earthjustice representing CELP in this case. “Requiring responsible water management is absolutely critical for Washington, so that our water resources can support healthy ecosystems and sustainable development moving forward.”

In Kittitas County, land use developers were dividing their properties into separate limited liability corporations to evade the rule that only one exempt well can be used per subdivision. New groundwater rights cannot be issued in Kittitas County, which is part of the Yakima River basin where water is over-allocated and “junior” water users are required to curtail their use every few years.

The Supreme Court held that Kittitas County’s development regulations should require land use applicants to disclose their ownership of multiple parcels in order to determine whether water is legally available via permit exempt wells. The Court also ruled in favor of the conservation groups on several other land use issues.

“The court’s decision is another milestone in the continuing battle to limit water usage in areas that are over-appropriated,” said Osborn. “Counties should take heed.”

Idaho Department of Water Resources Interim Director Gary Spackman has scheduled a prehearing conference and has proposed a timetable to consider delivery calls filed on July 8, 2011, by John W. Jones, Jr. and SeaPac of Idaho, Inc. for administration of their water rights. A decision about the calls may affect use of ground water for hundreds of irrigators, municipalities, and commercial and industrial entities that divert water from the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer.

Jones and SeaPac allege that junior priority ground water pumpers have materially injured their surface water rights. Jones’ water right no. 36-7071 is for fish propagation for 73.05 cfs from Weatherby Springs, Three Springs, and Hoagland Tunnel bearing a priority date of 7/8/1969. SeaPac holds two water rights from Thousand Springs for fish propagation: water right no. 36-7072 for 148.2 cfs bearing a 9/5/1969 priority date and water right no. 36-8356 for 45 cfs bearing a 5/9/1988 priority date.

If the Department determines the water rights called for have been materially injured, ground water rights within the ESPA that are junior in priority to Jones and SeaPac’s water rights could be subject to curtailment.

On July 25, Idaho Ground Water Appropriators filed IGWA’s Petition to be Designated a Respondent or Alternatively to Intervene in both delivery calls.
The prehearing conference is scheduled for August 8.

Approximately 140 additional notices about water right claims in the Northern
Idaho Adjudication have been sent to Bonner County property owners in the Coeur d’Alene drainage area. This area covers the Blanchard area and the area south of Careywood in the southern part of Bonner County.

The Idaho Department of Water Resources is continuing its multi-year process of cataloging and confirming all surface and ground water rights in the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane River Basin Adjudication. The deadline to file a water right Notice of Claim for these property owners is November 4.

A Notice of Claim is not required to be filed where the individual property owner and water user is not the owner of the water right (if the individual property owner receives all of their water from a city, an irrigation district, water utility district or a company). A water delivery organization typically files for the water right used by all its customers or patrons.

A notice is mailed to every property owner to insure all water right owners are notified of the process. There are records for about 4,000 water rights, while it is expected that over 13,000 water right claims will be filed in the adjudication.

Water users of a small domestic and/or stock water right may elect to file a
Notice of Claim now or wait until later in the process. All other users are required to file a water right claim with IDWR.

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor has announced the award of a $5,612,780 contract to Lillard and Clark Construction Company Inc. of Denver to replace the Pole Hill Canal on the Colorado-Big Thompson Project near Loveland, Colorado.

“Ensuring that Reclamation facilities are reliable is paramount to the mission of delivering water and generating power,” said Commissioner Connor. “This project will create good jobs in Colorado while ensuring that the Pole Hill Canal will safely meet the project demands now and into the future.”

The project will consist of removal of existing concrete lining and structures, installing furnished precast concrete box culverts, installing safety systems including ladders, float systems, guardrails and fences and other work including rock excavation and constructing gravel roads.

The half-mile Pole Hill Canal was built in 1952 and is part of the conveyance system that brings water to the east slope of the Colorado-Big-Thompson Project. The project stores, regulates and diverts water from the Colorado River on the western slope of the Continental Divide to the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

San Antonio Water System on July 22 received nine proposals for new water supply projects to provide alternative water sources and add to the city’s diverse water supply. Through this process, SAWS hopes to identify additional projects to meet long-term water supply needs through 2060.

“San Antonio continues to look for opportunities to diversify sources and ensure a sustainable, affordable supply of water for generations to come,” said Chuck Ahrens, SAWS Vice-President for Water Resources and Conservation. “Through this open process, we hope to identify additional long-term water projects that provide the best value for San Antonio ratepayers.”

In January, SAWS issued a Request for Competitive Sealed Proposals (RFCSP) for new water supply projects, providing interested parties an opportunity to submit proposals for consideration. Responses to the RFCSP were due today, and SAWS will now evaluate the proposals to identify which, if any, are the best value project(s) for San Antonio.

To help achieve the goal of diversified supply for San Antonio, proposed projects cannot include the sale or lease of Edwards Aquifer Authority permitted Edwards water that could be pumped from existing SAWS infrastructure. SAWS will consider the full project proposal before making recommendations, including firm cost estimates, design work, water control and yield, and status of required permits and land acquisition.

SAWS received proposals today from the following organizations:

Abengoa (with Blue Water Systems)
Dimmit Utility Water Supply Corporation
EarthWater Technologies
Grass Valley Water, L.P.
Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority
Oscar Renda Contracting
Southwest Texas Water Resources
V. V. Water Company, L.L.C.
Water Exploration Company, Ltd (WECO)

The Bureau of Reclamation and city of Gallup, N.M. are continuing negotiations on a proposed repayment contract for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. The contract will provide the terms and conditions by which the city will repay its portion of project construction and operation, maintenance, and replacement costs.

The project, authorized by the Northwest New Mexico Rural Projects Act of 2009, will convey approximately 37,376 acre-feet of water annually from the San Juan River to the eastern section of the Navajo Nation, southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the city of Gallup via about 260 miles of pipeline, 24 pumping plants, and two water treatment plants.

This will be the ninth negotiation meeting; the previous eight were held in 2010 and 2011 in Gallup, NM. This meeting is scheduled for August 1, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. at the city of Gallup Joint Utilities, 230 S Second St. Gallup, New Mexico. All negotiations are open to the public as observers and a 30-minute public question/comment period will be provided following the negotiation session.

The proposed contract and other pertinent documents will be available at the negotiation meeting, or can be obtained by contacting Ryan Christianson at the Bureau of Reclamation, 835 East Second Avenue, Suite 300, Durango, Colorado, 81301, telephone (970) 385-6590 or e-mail rchristianson@usbr.gov.

Flooding along the Missouri River continues as shown in Landsat satellite images of the Nebraska and Iowa border. Heavy rains and snowmelt have caused the river to remain above flood stage for an extended period.

A Landsat 5 image of the area from May 5, 2011 shows normal flow. In contrast, a Landsat 7 image taken July 17 depicts flood conditions in the same location.

A national overview map of streamflow provided by USGS WaterWatch graphically portrays the immense geographic extent of flooding in the Missouri River basin.

Landsat is a joint effort of both USGS and NASA. USGS conducts Landsat operations and NASA develops and launches new satellites that meet USGS requirements. In addition to imagery of natural hazard events, Landsat provides valuable data for land use research and advances the Department of the Interior’s important role in land remote sensing under the President’s National Space Policy. Landsat images are unique in that they provide complete global coverage, they are available for free, and they span nearly 40 years of continuous earth observation. No other satellite imagery has that combination of attributes.

Monitoring both floods and droughts, the USGS WaterWatch internet site displays maps, graphs, and tables that describe current and past streamflow conditions for the United States. The real-time streamflow data is generally updated on an hourly basis.

A total of 44 applications were received by the Interstate Stream
Commission to be considered for funding under the Arizona Water Settlements Act.

The deadline was Thursday, July 14 for submission of projects or proposals to be considered for funding under the Arizona Water Settlements Act by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission.

Beginning in 2012, the State stands to receive between $66 million and $128 million in federal money that can be used to pay the costs of the New Mexico Unit or other water utilization alternatives to meet water supply demands in the Southwest Water Planning Region of New Mexico. Funding could be used to pay
costs for development of up to 14,000 acre-feet per year of new water supplies or to fund other water utilization alternatives to meet water supply demands. Funding could also be used for costs associated with planning and environmental compliance activities and/or environmental mitigation and restoration. The 14,000 acre-feet of additional water represents an increase of about 50 percent in available water supply from the Gila Basin and could be used to effect a reduction of almost 50 percent in the annual overdraft of groundwater pumping in the southwest planning region.

“The ISC convened an evaluation panel of representatives from the New Mexico Environment Department; the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department; the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish; the Office of the State Engineer; and the Interstate Stream Commission. The panel brings diverse viewpoints and applicable expertise in ecology, hydrology, watershed restoration, infrastructure, and conservation and will carefully review each application,” said ISC Special Projects Bureau Chief Craig Roepke.

Application and submission of projects or proposals as well as evaluation are in a two-tiered format.