Category Archives: Conserve

Truckee River water use and Governor Sandoval’s Drought Forum

On the same day that the RGJ published the lead story about Governor Sandoval’s executive order creating the “Nevada Drought Forum”, the Governor also featured prominently in, “A top water user, Sandoval taking steps to cut back” as one of the top 150 household water users in the Truckee Meadows topping out at over 1,000,000 gallons in one year.  The Governor immediately said that he was moving to reduce water use in his Reno residence. A local landscape company employee took some of the blame for the excessive use saying, “It was watering way more than it should have.”  The Governor’s Reno residence includes an outdoor swimming pool and large areas of landscaping according to the RGJ.

Water runs off over-irrigated lawn in Reno

Water runs off over-irrigated lawn in Reno

The Governor isn’t alone in using more water than necessary (a million gallons of water would produce 6 cuttings of alfalfa on an acre of land).  Although I doubt that any of my neighbors are in the million gallon water user group that the Governor was, some are using plenty more than they need to.  I say that because a several properties in my northwest neighborhood regularly allow water to flow down the street and into the gutter.  That isn’t water they need – obviously.

Cutting back on water use means first that we recognize when we are wasting water.  TMWA does have some suggestions on how to cut back, but do we need remedial training so that we can understand what excessive water use and waste actually looks like?  I think that for many water use is just not on their radar screen – too many other priorities.

Water runs off over-irrigated lawn in Reno

Truckee River depleted of its flow at the last water intake for the TMWA

Most of us think that if water is coming out of the tap or spraying out of the sprinkler, no problem, right? It can be difficult to associate the water we use in our houses and on our yards with the river – the Truckee River – whence it came.  But every gallon you use in the Truckee Meadows (and many who live in the north valleys, too) comes from the Truckee River.

 

Galena Creek at Washoe County Galena Creek Park, Spring 2014

Galena Creek at Washoe County Galena Creek Park, Spring 2014

What about groundwater wells, you say?  Ditto.  Our groundwater wells in the Truckee Meadows are primarily filled from the river or its tributaries. Water flows from the western mountains through natural creeks and streams and ditches carry water around the entire valley from the Truckee River providing a way for streams to recharge the groundwater. In the Truckee Meadows itself, our annual precipitation at the airport averages only 7″ a year while evaporation is about 40″.  With so little rainfall in the valley, it is the river and its tributaries that mostly fill our groundwater wells.  Prior to explosive population growth and the ill-advised 1960’s era flood project that destroyed the Vista Marsh on the Truckee, the water table was very high.  Flood irrigation of meadows and pastures through out the “Truckee Meadows” helped to keep it that way. It is safe to say that we are completely dependent on the Truckee River for our water here.

The RGJ article on the largest water users says, “the average household uses 124,000 gallons per year”.  The 2010 census says that the average Washoe County household has about 3.2 persons making the daily water use about 106 gallons per person.  Other cities in the west and southwest use significantly less water with better outdoor landscape ordinances, with Tucson, AZ averaging about 70 gallons per person per day.  If Washoe County and the cities of Reno and Sparks adopted landscape ordinances and incentives to encourage water conservation we could reduce our use by more than 33% in wet and drought years.  So instead of using 20 billion* gallons of water per year, households could reduce that to 13.4 billion gallons saving almost 7 billion gallons per year.

*I made this calculation: According an estimate of the 2013 census figures for Washoe County there were 163,198 households.  So, using the average water use statistic quoted in the RGJ article (which most likely came from TMWA) that would be 124,000 gallons/household X 163,198 households = 20,236,552,000 gallons of water.  Let’s say 20 billion gallons of water (billion with a “b”) or 61,400 acre-feet.  (The number doesn’t include commercial or industrial water users.) 

What can we do to save that water?  The list is long, but key among them is to reduce the amount of turf in your yard beginning with the front lawn.  Businesses and housing developments line streets and common areas with strips of turf that few use, but are big water users (and wasters because it is difficult to water narrow strips of turf).

Strip lawns are big water users with runoff from the narrow strips common.

Strip lawns are big water users with runoff from the narrow strips common.

Could that be a accomplished to save water in cities and towns throughout Nevada? We will have to wait to see what the Governor’s Drought Forum comes up with on a state-wide basis by November (Click here to see the Executive order).  The Forum is top heavy in bureaucrats and includes the huge water agency from Las Vegas, the Southern Nevada Water Authority.  On the positive side, it also includes scientists from UNR and DRI.  Who else?  That remains to be seen since the Governor is yet to announce any citizens interested in conserving water resources statewide.

The Governor’s Drought Forum is expected to produce a list of recommendations and a “Drought Summit” with stakeholders in September of this year.  I’m sure that cutbacks in domestic use will be proposed. How will the Drought Forum address the severe drought in the Truckee River?  Statewide? We all need to be concerned if the forum proposes to create more “storage” in the form of additional reservoirs on already stressed rivers and streams in the region.  Storage can be effective when there is occasional drought, but more reservoirs will likely be ineffective in long-term drought.  In the western climate existing reservoirs are already taking a big chunk out of available water through evaporation.  Mountain reservoirs in our region evaporate at least 3 acre-feet of water per acre of exposed surface.

A better choice for “saving” water is to recognize first that we have allocated too much.  This becomes especially apparent during long-term droughts.  “Water rights” that Truckee Meadows industrial and commercial, residential, and agricultural users technically have don’t actually exist this year.  Agricultural users will probably get less than 1/5th of their “water rights”.  TMWA users are being asked to cut back “at least 10%”, but unstated is that TMWA isn’t actually using all of its “water rights” and that much of those “water rights” couldn’t be delivered because there is physically no water available.  Emphasizing the point that water here is over allocated is that most irrigation ditches will likely be dry by June.  Last year they were dry by August.  Hopefully, this isn’t a trend.

Truckee River in downtown Reno

Truckee River in downtown Reno

Water here is always in short supply.  Western Nevada is a desert that happens to have a miraculous river delivered to us from California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to our west.  We are indeed fortunate to have this river that sustains us.  Will we be up to the task to keep it flowing?

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Truckee Meadows drought: tepid TMWA response, deja vu

Washoe Lake nearly dry in March 2015. Washoe Lake is in the Truckee River watershed.

The Truckee Meadows Water Authority seeks a 10% reduction in water use from all its water customers sighting exceptional drought conditions and sooner reliance on its private drought reservoir storage and local wells. As reported on Fox Channel 11 the drought is “worse then (sic) expected”, according to an unnamed TMWA spokesman, “but, the good news is there will be enough water to get through this year.”

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

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

So defines our water supply strategy, “pray for snow”.

All TMWA customers are under the same voluntary call for water reduction. TMWA recently added about 23,000 water customers when it absorbed Washoe County Water Resources and the South Truckee Meadows General Improvement District. Last year TMWA didn’t ask customers to reduce water use by 10% until nearly August.

While the ten percent reduction is called for across the board of all TMWA customers, it isn’t clear how TMWA will report or monitor how customers respond. Further, the call for voluntary reduction fails to recognize that some are very large consumers of water – especially for outdoor watering – while many customers use significantly less water.  The call for a 10% water use reduction by all customers in August, September and October of 2014 actually resulted in a 7.5% reduction or about 1,100 acre-feet according to TMWA. It remains to be seen whether people will respond for an entire spring, summer and fall season with reduced water use. A couple of days of thunderstorms in August 2014 bringing significant rain to some areas in and around the Truckee Meadows could have helped TMWA achieve the reduction.

TMWA’s call for a cutback of 10% in water use doesn’t address the waste of water that is common throughout the valley.  Automatic sprinklers are notorious for wasting water in my neighborhood with obviously broken pipes, poor installations, and way too long cycle times that lead to serious overland flow into the street.  Reports of these problems to TMWA has yet to yield any fixes since early last summer.  Will TMWA begin to address water waste this year?  

As we move into uncharted territory this summer and fall with a 7% of normal snowpack at Lake Tahoe, the public discussion of growth and water use seem to be far away.  

Waterdownthegutter copyAn RGJ editorial “A low-snow future? We need to Talk: Our View“, raises questions about our current drought and its implications for our water future: “This could be just another wild swing in the Sierra Nevada’s historically fluctuating weather.  Or it could be a sign of things to come?”  Indeed, I’ve posed a similar question in one of my blogs:. The RGJ points out several facts which point in a very troubling direction for our region’s water supply:

  • 120 years of records show the average statewide temperature has risen 3.5º F

  • every year since 1999 had above average temperatures

  • ski areas are closing earlier than ever – even large ski areas like Sugar Bowl on the western slope where huge snow totals were common

  • snow levels have risen 500 feet in elevation in the last 30 years

  • Lake Tahoe will likely not rise above its rim in 2015 sending no water into the Truckee River

  • the average daily minimum temperature in Tahoe City increased 4.2º F in 100 years

What the RGJ failed to mention is also significant.  For example, to most of us who pay attention, the drought has been with us for 15 years with 2 wetter years interspersed.  Or put another way, western Nevada has had 13% above average or wet years and 87% below average or dry years in the last decade and a half. 

Could a shifting climate, warmer winters and summers, and prolonged dry periods change both the way we live as well as dry-up our rivers and lakes? It is going to take serious changes to our water use if the last 15 years are the new “normal”.

The news from the last month gives us a taste (an unpleasant one at that!) of what may become our water future. 

Washoe Lake nearly dry in March 2015. Washoe Lake is in the Truckee River watershed.

Washoe Lake nearly dry in March 2015. Washoe Lake is in the Truckee River watershed.

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2014 Temps in California and Nevada highest since record keeping began

Truckee River in downtown Reno trickles under the Virginia Street Bridge in late 2014.

As if you hadn’t already noticed, it was warm in 2014 – the year that just slipped into history 10 days ago.  Two stories summarized the findings of recent scientific analyses of the state of the climate in 2014. One focusing on California is found in SFGATE.COM and another focusing on Nevada and Reno is found in RGJ.COM.

The Highland Ditch which supplies irrigation water to Rancho San Rafael Regional Park is dry in late summer 2014 because the Truckee River doesn't have enough water to support any diversions in the Truckee Meadows.

The Highland Ditch which supplies irrigation water to Rancho San Rafael Regional Park is dry in late summer 2014 because the Truckee River doesn’t have enough water to support any diversions in the Truckee Meadows.

Briefly, scientists are reporting that 2014 average temperatures in California were 4 degrees (fahrenheit) higher that the 20th century average and that 7 of the 10 hottest years in the Golden State have occurred since 1994.  As goes California, so goes Nevada where 2014 average temperatures were 3.6 degrees higher than the 20th century average.  Reno saw average temperatures 1 degree warmer than the record set in 2012. Warm temperatures coupled with drought are a bad combination for both states now facing a long dryer-than-normal period of more than 14 years.

The U.S. also saw its 18th consecutive year where average temperatures exceeded the average temperatures for the 20th century.

The revelations about the high temperatures should be alarming, but mostly the reports about the warm (and continually warming) temperatures here and elsewhere in the northern, northern hemisphere are ignored by most. Certainly too many legislators and governors openly scoff at the reports and ignore calls to slow down the trend by limiting greenhouse gases.  Government scientists who undertake the studies that underpin the reports of warming are frequently pooh poohed by talking heads from Fox to PBS.  Scientists have looked at ways to reduce greenhouse gases and slow or (unlikely now) reverse the warming.

How does warming effect the Lake-Tahoe-Truckee-River-Pyramid-Lake system?  For one thing, it increases evaporation – significant since the Truckee River includes 2 large lakes which collectively evaporate several hundred thousand acre-feet of water each year.  Warming temperatures also increase the amount of water plants need in everything from urban landscaping to farming potentially reducing recharge to groundwater and lowering flows in streams.  We are very likely already seeing effects from warming in increases in evaporation and evapotranspiration loss.

Truckee River is reduced to a trickle after the Glendale Water Treatment facility takes on water from the river just above the bridge.

Truckee River is reduced to a trickle after the Glendale Water Treatment facility takes on water from the river just above the bridge.

As I’ve mentioned before, we are still hoping for a miracle series of large Pacific storm systems to save us from the drought.  If, however, the drought is of our own making – however unwittingly – that may be a false hope.

 

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American Dipper in the Truckee

American Dipper at Idlewild Park in Reno January 3, 2015

Ever see a small dark bird bouncing on rocks then diving into the water in the Truckee?  Most likely you’ve spied an American Dipper called by some a water ouzel.  Dippers are quick to disappear on their dives and can reappear elsewhere in the stream with amazing speed.

Today we took a walk along the river at Idlewild Park and were happy to spend some time watching a dipper doing its bouncing dance along the rocks (and ice) in the river.  Dippers have been known to nest under bridges in downtown Reno.  They are commonly seen also at Mayberry Park.  They can be found year round, but easier to see, I think, in the winter.  Here is a short video showing their typical behavior.

Normal drought or climate-change drought?

The snow pack for the Truckee River and Lake Tahoe is below normal for the end of December– again.  The Reno Gazette-Journal reported the Truckee River basin snowpack at 67% and the Lake Tahoe snowpack at 44% of “normal”.  December and January are usually the heavy lifters when it comes to providing the bulk of the moisture collected in the Sierra Nevada.  What the rest of the winter has in store for us remains an unknown.

Scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Minnesota reported December 4, 2014 that the current California Drought is the worst in 1,200 years (at least).  The scientists analyzed growth rings on Blue Oaks growing in California to reach that conclusion and implicate human-caused climate change as the reason.  While droughts have always occurred, the current one is worse because of both increased temperature as well as decreased precipitation.

An icy Truckee River flows into Pyramid Lake on New Years Day 2015. Pyramid Lake levels have fallen dramatically since 2000.

An icy Truckee River flows into Pyramid Lake on New Years Day 2015. Pyramid Lake levels have fallen dramatically since 2000.

Forbes published yesterday an article “No doubt it’s a climate-change drought, scientists say” quoting Jonathan Overpeck with the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona saying, “Of course everyone knows California’s drought has been for three years, rain so far has been helpful, there’s a snowpack in the Sierra Nevada’s that is about 50 percent of normal thanks to recent precipitation, but that hasn’t stopped the drought. The drought is still going to be the story at the end of the year, I think.”  He went on to say, ““To frame the drought we should be mentioning that much of the southwest and west has been in drought now for nearly 15 years, since 1999…”

While many in Nevada (and California) are hopeful that this year will see a turn-around and we’ll see above normal winter snows by the 1st of April, the last 15 years should give us pause for expecting that the drought will simply end and everything will return to “normal” in the long-run.  Climate change is the new dragon in the room.

December 30, 2014 Drought Monitor Map

December 30, 2014 Drought Monitor Map

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