Category Archives: Conserve

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Gambling on Truckee Meadows water supply

Truckee River at the Plaza in downtown river in August 2014

On Sunday, September 28, 2014, the Reno Gazette-Journal published a headline story by Jeff DeLong: “Cusp of a Crisis” laying out the uncertain future for Reno-Sparks water supply. Therein the Truckee Meadows Water Authority says it is relying on the “history” of the Truckee River to “pop us out of this drought cycle.”

But as we’ve written before, can we really rely on the past flows of the river to predict the future as each decade is warmer than the last? Delong provides the stats demonstrating that the concern for water supply is real, but doesn’t write how the community will deal with it. TMWA seems to be just spinning the roulette wheel.

Lake Tahoe at 1.2″ above its rim (Sept 30, 9 cubic feet per second (CFS) flows out)
Boca, Stampede, and Prosser Reservoirs at 19%, 25%, and 26% of capacity
TMWA’s drought storage reservoirs Donner and Independence at 66% and 91% of capacity (which in actual water is a little less than 22,000 acre-feet)
Customers reduced their use – TMWA claims by 10% saving 1,150 acre-feet – but leaves out if this is compared to last year or last month
The river at Farad is flowing at 100 CFS and 57 CFS through Reno (“normal” at Farad would be 5 times greater at 500 CFS).
TMWA serves 93,000 customers – 73,873 residential customers have water meters
Washoe County Water Resources Department and South Truckee Meadows General Improvement District will soon be merged into TMWA giving it 115,000 customers (basically, all the houses and businesses in the Reno-Sparks area)
4,469 residential customers are still on a “flat rate”; they pay $100.63 per month regardless of how much water they use

Delong reported that Mike Carrigan, who serves on the TMWA board, favors requiring all TMWA customers be metered – especially important now that the drought has so reduced water supplies. Water meters for all customers are long overdue. Delong wrote that the average flat rate customer (not metered) uses more than twice as much water as an average metered customer – 282,000 gallons compared to 124,000 gallons – per year presumably, although it isn’t stated in the article.

There are some big water users out there, too. In 2013 one residence used 6.1 million gallons of water and another used 4 million gallons. The 91st person on the list used nearly 900,000 gallons in 2013. Should a single residence be using enough water to support 50 residential customers? Should there be no limit for water use as long as the customer can afford it?

As interesting as reporting the top 100 water users is, the real issue is that the more water all of us use, the less water is available for the Truckee River which is the keystone of our community and the life-blood for fish and wildlife from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake.

River at John Champion Park in mid-August 2014

While meters are critically important to any water conservation program, without the proper rate structure and commitment by the water agency to set the rates to conserve water, customers have no reason to think about how much water they use. We discussed before that the current metered water rate structure does little to conserve water.

No one knows what the weather will bring this winter; and that’s just the point. With our high per person water use, Reno-Sparks residents are victims of the gamblers mantra: “I’m feeling lucky.”

Is that a good way to run a community?

RGJ identified that some excessive water use comes from an unsuspected leak. Suspect a leak indoors or outdoors at your house is wasting water? Call the Truckee Meadows Water Authority at 775-834-8005 to set up a water audit or if you’d like to try to find a suspected leak on your own go to TMWA’s website here.

Water for Tesla? Not a problem?

American White Pelicans at Pyramid Lake. Pyramid Lake has fallen more than 25 feet since the drought began in 2000.

When you think of an industrial facility such as the Tesla Lithium Battery Gigafactory, it is easy to overlook the need for water to run it. But most places that make things need to use water at some point in the process. The Tracy power plant east of Reno is an example. It is located on the Truckee River because to make power you need water for both the steam-powered turbines and for cooling. How much water will the Tesla Lithium Battery Gigafactory require every year? Will Tesla’s gigafactory recycle water and have little net use of water? Or will it require lots of water?

The proposed Tesla Battery Gigafactory designed to match the 2013 world-wide output of lithium batteries by 2020. The gigafactory is now slated for Nevada’s Storey County in the TRI Center.

On September 5th, Mark Robison of the RGJ wrote an article “No water worries for Tesla at Reno industrial park.” Therein he quotes the owner of the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Park (TRI), Lance Gilman, as claiming he has ample water.

“We’re really not impacted by the drought situation,” [Gilman] said. “Our water source appears to be incredibly stable and we haven’t seen a change in it at all (during the drought). We can pump 2 to 3 million gallons a day or more under today’s capacity and that’s, of course, expandable dramatically.”

In a more recent RGJ article on Reno’s potential lack of sewer capacity, it said TRI would like to receive water from the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility.

” The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center has already expressed interest in the effluent. The Regional Plan, however, prohibits the gray water from being shipped out of the service area.”

The TRI facility lies within the Truckee River watershed and groundwater or surface water use will impact the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake and communities east of the Truckee Meadows.

The Truckee River in September 2014 below the Glendale TMWA Treatment Plant is mostly dry.

How much water Tesla needs and where that water will come from did not appear to be part of the decision-making process for Governor Sandoval’s negotiators.

It should have been. The Tesla deal could cost us a lot more than the negotiated $1.25 billion.