Author Archives: Dennis Ghiglieri

About Dennis Ghiglieri

My concern for the Truckee River grew over the years. It started with picking up trash and supporting better water quality. I helped create the "living river"plan with other citizens on the Community Flood Coalition; a plan to reduce flood impacts to infrastructure through river restoration and protection of the floodplain. I understand how critical the Truckee River is to the environment – and economy – of our entire region. I'm hoping that through these pages we can all understand our connection to the Truckee River and why we need to protect it.

Conserve now. Don’t wait for TMWA to ask.

Water runs off over-irrigated lawn in Reno

Perhaps you read the editorial opinion published in the RGJ May 27, 2014 by the GM of the Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA – pronounced TUM-WA – now doesn’t that sound nice?).  Therein the GM declared that the severe and continuing drought was absolutely no reason to conserve water here in the good ol’ Truckee Meadows anytime soon.  Astonishing though it is, that is what he said.

Cleverly entitled “Utility set to meet water needs”, he begins by saying that “everyone is talking about the drought.”  But then he asks “Why not ask for more conservation now?”  Then tells us that “TMWA is prepared to meet the water needs of our customers”, that is, without conservation until the river becomes stressed and flow drops below “mandated” levels.  So when should you conserve?  Not now for heaven’s sake!   In other words, use as much water as you want and we’ll let you know when to conserve – wink, wink.  Implied, but not said is, “please don’t conserve water and keep our revenues up.”  Conservation be damned!

The GM softens his conservation-can-wait message with a paragraph about we’ve-been-through-these-challenges-before and drought-is-a-natural-occurence and as-a-desert-based-utility-TMWA-plans-for-dry-years.  

The essence of the message the GM is conveying?  Use as much water as you need and if you feel like it pray for snow next year.

The GM will use “upstream drought reserves” and “groundwater” to meet your needs later – even if you would be more than happy to conserve (and save a little money) right now.

Of course, Reno averages only 7″ of precipitation a year making us one of the driest places on the planet. Never mind that this year we’re under 5″ and the Sierra runoff will be 25% of average in many locales.  Nevertheless, the GM doesn’t think that a 14 year dry spell is any reason to call for conservation of water anytime soon.  Use what you need to.  Never mind that this drought represents one of the worst dry spells for perhaps half a millennia. After all TMWA is prepared for your business.

Drought Monitor May 27, 2014

Drought Monitor May 27, 2014

Wouldn’t it be nice if the GM were more practical?  more thoughtful?  more likely to err on the side of caution?  more like a leader who needs to be honest with 300,000 people who already know that there is a serious drought and are prepared to respond?  Who prefer to see water in the river rather than evaporating on their sidewalk?

Conservation has to be taught every day of the year to remind all of us that every drop of water we use takes that drop of water from our lakes, river, streams, wetlands, and springs and the wildlife that depends on them.  Conservation should be the main thing that TMWA talks about – as a “desert based utility”.  Conservation is more than reporting “water waste”.  It is the way westerners and the environment we all depend on can survive in a changing climate; a climate that is getting both hotter and drier.

Water running off automatic sprinkler system - a common sight throughout Truckee Meadows.

Perhaps the GM could lead and call for conservation every day of the year for the simple reason that we live in a desert.

 

Just 14 years ago …

Time has a way of compressing as we get older.  It seems like only yesterday that our water resources in our lakes and rivers were in great shape.  Today, not so much.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Lake Tahoe was at full capacity, the reservoirs on the Truckee, likewise.  The Truckee River was flowing at over 1000 CFS during May and June.  We just didn’t know then that we were at the cusp of a 14 year-long dry spell .  It has taken its toll on Lake Tahoe storage (just 17″ above its rim as of this writing, and almost certain to go below this summer or fall).  Pyramid Lake has fallen many feet in elevation, but what is dramatic is the amount of shore exposed by the receding water in this long-term drought.  As we’ve explained in other posts, we westerners have relied on a repeat of the precipitation patterns for this century as we have for the preceding century and a half.  So far, it’s not working out for us.

Compare these two photos (taken from locations at the south shore of Pyramid Lake in Aug 2004 and this April 2014.  The latter photo is taken from a position which shows the amount of recession Pyramid is undergoing with so much demand on the remaining flows of the Truckee River.  During the last 3 years only a fraction of the total river flow actually reached Pyramid Lake.  (The first photo takes in a larger view of the Lake, but Anaho Island and the Pyramid are visible in both images.)

August 2004 Pyramid Lake view to Anaho Island from south shore.

August 2004 Pyramid Lake view to Anaho Island from south shore.

April 2014 Pyramid Lake view to Anaho Island from south shore.

April 2014 Pyramid Lake view to Anaho Island from south shore.

Recent scientific work reveals a dry future?

Oxbow Park on Truckee River

The USA Today reports in an article “Report: Climate change is here and getting worse” that we won’t have to wait to see the effects of a rapidly changing climate (mostly a rapidly warming climate).  Many  of us who were born in the 40s and 50s and 60s have observed this ourselves in the 14 years of the 21st century.  Young people, however, will never know the climate older westerners feel has already gone the way of the dodo.  Is it just the mis-remembrances of our own youth?

Oxbow Park on Truckee River

Truckee River at Oxbow Park. The Hunter Creek drainage of the Carson Range in the background is nearly devoid of snow by May 12, ’14.

An article on global climate change in Science News (Cloudy Forecast, March 22, 2014) reports that “warming pushes [mid-latitude] storm tracks toward the poles”. Whether or not this movement of the storm track will result in a drier future for the Truckee River along with the entire desert southwest is yet to be determined.

Related articles across the web

Truckee River 2014 Snowpack: Puny

Demands on the Truckee River exceed the rivers ability to keep up. The river is particularly stressed during droughts which could become more common.

The April 4 National Resource Conservation Service snow survey showed some improvement from the dismal Lake Tahoe and Truckee River snow survey of late February 2014. The 3rd dry winter in a row. It would be extraordinary for the snowpack to gain significantly before the summer is upon us. (As of this writing, the forecast for the area through middle of April is for mild weather with warm temperatures.)

The National Drought Mitigation Center most recently shows a huge chunk of California and Nevada in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought (the latter is the worst drought condition mapped by the Drought Monitor.

April 3, 2014 Drought Monitor for the Western USA

April 3, 2014 Drought Monitor for the Western USA

As of April 4, the Lake Tahoe basin snow survey shows a snowpack of 43% and the Truckee River basin just 31% of the long-term average. Presently, Lake Tahoe’s elevation is 1.2 feet or about 14.4 inches above its rim of 6,223 feet. It is more likely this year due to the low snowpack and anticipated reduced runoff that Tahoe will decline below its rim. Once Tahoe reaches its rim, no water flows into the Truckee River from the Lake. At that point, all water in the Truckee River comes from the tributaries entering the river below Lake Tahoe.

While the Truckee River and rivers throughout western Nevada and most of California experience one of their all-time dry conditions, elsewhere in the west, conditions are not so severe. For example, as of April 4, the snowpack for the Colorado River above Lake Powell is 115% of average. Still, the more southerly tributaries to the Colorado do not enjoy average to above-average snowpack.

It appears all-to-true that the western states continue to operate on the principal of “let’s hope for a big snow next year” to make up for the drought. But, is drought the cause of our water problems? I’m not convinced.

We forget that our overuse of rivers, lakes, and groundwater makes every year a drought for fish and wildlife dependent on in-stream river flows and desert lakes and marshes at the end of the system. When will we recognize our overuse?

There doesn’t seem the resolve to make changes to our everyday practices in the west to use less water.

How will this year shake out for the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake? While we can’t ever predict the future, it appears that the Truckee will have pretty meager flows starting early this summer and that those flows will be significantly less going to Pyramid lake. I guess we all need to hope for a big snow next year. Right?

Recent scientific work reveals a dry future? An article on global climate change in Science News (Cloudy Forecast, March 22, 2014) reports that “warming pushes [mid-latitude] storm tracks toward the poles”. Whether or not this movement of the storm track will result in a drier future for the Truckee River along with the entire desert southwest is yet to be determined.

 

Can we count on the river flows of the past to predict the future?

Fisherman at Warrior Point at Pyramid Lake

For 96 years of the 20th century [1900-1995], the Truckee River flowed an average of 579,000 acre-feet (at Vista near the Truckee Meadows Waste Water Plant). That average number represents a continuous flow of 800 cubic feet per second (CFS).  Our measurements of flow during the last century, of course, were made after many changes had already taken place in the Truckee River watershed.  A dam was already in place at Lake Tahoe and a large network of ditches, dikes, and diversions from the river were already in place throughout the Truckee Meadows and Washoe Valley.  And the nation’s first reclamation project was constructed between 1905 and 1917.

Today, however, the changes that are occurring to our river may go well beyond ditches, dams, and diversions.  The watershed is seeing an increase in temperature that may be unprecedented in thousands of years.  Higher temperatures will very likely lead to greater evaporation and less snow.  That leads us to ask: What is the chance that we’ll see an average Truckee River flow of 579,000 acre-feet in the  remaining 86 years of the 21st century?

The Nettie, an expedition boat on the Truckee River, western Nevada, in 1867. Photo: Timothy O'Sullivan

The Nettie, an expedition boat on the Truckee River, western Nevada, in 1867. Photo: Timothy O’Sullivan

Some studies are saying that the entire west – not just the far southwest dependent on the Colorado River – are facing a moderate to serious drop in precipitation coupled with increasing temperatures that may result in streamflows dropping by as much as 25%.Projected Changes in Annual Runoff

What worries many is that the decrease in river flows may have already started.  The Truckee River has already seen 14 years of “abnormal” dry conditions with only 2 years in that time frame seeing above average precipitation.  Drier than average conditions mean that water for Truckee River flows into Pyramid Lake are inadequate to keep up with natural evaporation rates.

Much of the worry about dry conditions has focused on the Colorado River and more recently on California.  In an article in “The Week” (theweek.com) the headline reads “The unprecedented water crisis in the American Southwest”, which focuses on the Colorado River.  Scientists are increasingly sounding the alarm of drying conditions affecting all who depend on the Colorado River.

“We can’t depend on history to project the future anymore,” said Carly Jerla, a geological hydrologist who closely monitors the Colorado. The river’s wet 20th century may have been an anomaly; in the 13 centuries before the 1900s, its flow was actually 15 percent lower. The current drought may also be the product of a wider pattern of climate change, signifying a barren future: Several global-warming studies predict that rising temperatures will reduce the river’s flow by up to 35 percent by 2050.

The articles on the continuing drought focus on the impacts to agriculture and the residents

The Derby Dam diverts Truckee River water from its natural course which goes to Pyramid Lake. Instead water flows into the Truckee Canal to the Carson River.

The Derby Dam diverts Truckee River water from its natural course which goes to Pyramid Lake. Instead water flows into the Truckee Canal to the Carson River.

who reside in the west’s Mega-cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.  But every westerner faces an uncertain future if there is a shift even half as great as 25-35% declines in stream flow.  The Truckee River is critical to the Truckee Meadows and a decline of such proportion would be devastating to the people and wildlife of the entire region.  Can we conserve 35% of all water use?  Agriculture?  Urban?  Industrial? Can natural systems at Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake and the length of the Truckee River survive with a smaller fraction of our left-over water?