Category Archives: Keep it flowing

Cities, towns, development, farms, ranches take water from the Truckee River – some years taking nearly its entire flow

Truckee River Vision Plan – comment by July 28, 2024

Open House Thursday, July 11, 4:30 to 7:30 PM at Reno City Hall

An email arrived in my inbox yesterday afternoon to announce that in just 48 hours the City of Reno and Washoe County scheduled a meeting to discuss the Truckee River Vision. The public has just 19 days (18 now) to complete an online survey.

To understand the “vision” and take the survey, the public presumably is to review the 127 page “Truckee River Vision Plan” with graphics, text, and conclusions. The visioning PDF, which can be downloaded in pieces, divides an 18-mile stretch of the river into 4 parts: rural, west, downtown, and east.

So please take the time to review the vision and take the “Speak Up-ee for the Truckee” survey and attend the extremely short-noticed public meeting if at all possible.

Community Open House Details: 

When: Thursday, July 11, 2024 4:30-7:30pm 
 Where: Reno City Hall, 1. E. 1st Street 
4:30-5:30- Open House
 5:30-6:30 – Presentation from Dig Studio, the project’s consultant
  6:30-7:30- Q&A
The presentation and Q&A will also be available virtually. 

The email concludes as follows:

The purpose of the Truckee River Vision Plan is to deliver a blueprint to transform the Truckee River. From more restaurants, vendors and shops to more trails, river access and shade, we want to hear from you. The official campaign is called, ‘Speak Up-ee for the Truckee.’  In addition to this larger planning process, Dig, the project’s consultant, helped the City to identify immediate projects that could be funded through America Rescue Act Funding. These projects which were passed by City council include: new animal resistant trash cans and pet waste receptacles, paint refresh on railings, light poles, and bridges a long the river downtown, infrastructure improvements to West Street plaza with a River Ranger station and event programming for two summer seasons, design for a cantilever path behind the Automobile Museum, and design and physical improvements like lighting along Riverside Drive. 

City staff will bring a draft plan to council later this summer for review and approval. We look forward to seeing you out and about — and around the river! 

2023 Sees Big Snow Pack – so far

March came in like a lion with several continuous days of snow. January and February snows in the Carson Range and throughout the Sierra increased an already above-average snowpack for this time of the year to 179% in the Tahoe Basin and 169% in the Truckee Basin.

The welcome snow contrasts with the dry winters for the previous two winters. With climate change making ever hotter summers the Truckee River had low flows, Sierra reservoirs shrunk, and Lake Tahoe fell nearly a half-foot below its rim for 65 days last fall and early winter.

Atmospheric Rivers helped to build the snowpack

Lake Tahoe State Park at Spooner Lake Feb 22, 2023

Rain and then snow powered first by an “atmospheric river” and then a parade of January snow storms pushed the snowpack to over 150% in the Tahoe and Truckee Basin. Storms at the beginning and end of February continued to push the snowpack up and March is continuing the trend. As I write this, it is snowing lightly in Reno. (Another possible atmospheric river arriving in a couple of days could bring rain to lower elevation snowpack with a threat of increasing localized flooding possible.)

From nearly a half foot below its rim, Lake Tahoe today stands over two feet higher. With such a large snowpack yet to melt, Tahoe is set to rise considerably more. Likewise, reservoirs on the Truckee River system have storage available as evidenced by the following table of current levels.

Plenty of storage capacity remains in Truckee River Reservoirs

Reservoir NameStorage in Acre-feetCapacity in Acre-feetCurrent Storage %Remaining Storage in Acre-feetRemaining Capacity (%)
Stampede106,788226,50047.1%119,71252.9%
Prosser9,76729,84032.7%20,07367.3%
Boca18,74840,87045.9%22,12254.1%
Donner3,4529,50036.3%6,04863.7%
Independence (TMWA)13,59717,50077.7%3,90322.3%
Lake Tahoe
† Storage		208,900744,60028.1%535,70071.9%
Total361,2521,068,810 707,558 
March 8, 2023: Truckee River Upstream Storage

Where will this winter snowpack end up? March appears set to add more to the precipitation already received. The next storm system forecast is for rain at lower elevations below 7,000 feet to start.

Lake Tahoe from Mt Rose Highway Feb 22, 2023

The NRCS reports that “[a]s of March 1 the Reno Airport has seen 38.3 inches of snowfall through March 1 which is nearly twice normal for the entire winter.” The Airport has seen at least 4.5″ of snow fall since then.

Still, the total amount of precipitation from the winters of 1982-83 and 2016-17 exceeds this winter’s precipitation – so far.

† By court decree, the dam at Tahoe City, CA at the outlet to the Truckee River can raise the level of Lake Tahoe 6.1 feet to elevation 6,229.1 feet AMSL.

Drought persists: Dry January and February

Dry ground on Peavine Mtn

Deficit of rain and snow continues into March.

Hope for a “jubilant” January, a “fabulous” February, and a “miracle” March fell flat this year. The western US, including much of California and Nevada, faces another drought year. The Drought Monitor map shows the Sierra Nevada in “severe drought” along with all of western Nevada. Worse designations of “extreme” and “exceptional” drought categories are found in portions of 8 of the 9 western states.

Drought Monitor 3-8-2022
Drought Monitor 3-8-2022

Truckee River: low flows ahead for spring and summer

After the summer of 2021’s extreme fires and, in much of the west, unprecedented heat, December’s storms seemed to herald an above average water year in the offing for the Sierra. But a record breaking, dry January and February ended the hope that the 200% snow pack would persist. The ides of March has come and gone. Yet, the Sierra snowpack that supports the Truckee River is just 76 and 68 percent of average in the Truckee River and Tahoe watershed today. Lake Tahoe is just 12″ above its natural rim and the very real prospect of a continuing dry spring mean lower flows into the Truckee River below Tahoe City. The traditional April 1 peak snowpack measurement becomes less relevant as climate change warms temperatures winter and summer. The lack of storms in what should be the Sierra “wet season” stretches our multi-decadal drought for yet a further spring and summer.

Lake Tahoe elevation Jan'20 to Mar'22
As spring runoff approaches Tahoe’s surface elevation stands just 12″ above its rim.

Truckee River flow to peak by May 1, 2021

The National Weather Service forecast model shows the flow of the Truckee River at Floriston, CA peaking by April 27. The extremely dry soils in the Truckee River watershed at both Lake Tahoe and the Truckee Basin are contributing to the lower runoff as well as the below average snowpack this year and last year.

The actual peak in river flows could be earlier if the weather remains warmer than expected or be later if cooler and stormier weather comes in. The 10 day forecast doesn’t appear to offer much in the way of precipitation through the first part of April, however. The Carson and Walker Rivers are also expected to have peak flows early.

Currently, the snowpack is melting fast and earlier than would be indicated by historical data. With an early melting of the snow, rivers and streams will likely be well below their average flow into the first part of the summer. The Truckee River, due to upstream storage in reservoirs and Lake Tahoe, will have summer flows while the Carson and Walker Rivers will likely be dry in early summer in many locations.

The snowpack's snow water equivalent (SWE) % of average compared to the % of forecast runoff in northern NV rivers. Runoff into the Truckee River is expected to be at or below 40% of average according to this forecast from the Nat'l Weather Service in Reno.
The snowpack’s snow water equivalent (SWE) % of average compared to the % of forecast runoff in northern NV rivers. Runoff into the Truckee River is expected to be at or below 40% of average according to this forecast from the Nat’l Weather Service in Reno. (National Weather Service Forecast from the Reno, NV office presentation)
Low flows for the Truckee River are expected summer and fall 2021.

Derby Dam: Fixing a 115 year old disaster?

Historical photo of Derby Dam at its dedication in 1905

It’s easy to miss Derby Dam on your drive east on I-80. Look to your right when the “Derby Dam” exit sign appears and you’ll see an earthen berm and concrete spillway and some of the dam’s control structures. The dam is off limits to the public.

Locked gates at Derby Dam
Locked gates at Derby Dam

But this diversion dam on the Truckee River brought with it a cascade of negative environmental and social effects by not only stopping all fish migration upstream to their spawning grounds but setting in motion a plunging water level at Pyramid Lake and diverting the flows of the Truckee River through a canal to another basin to create new farms in the desert. The Congressional act that created the diversion dam and canal ushered in a era of damming rivers across the west to the detriment of fish and wildlife and, too often, the Native Americans whose livelihoods depended on the rivers and lakes both on and surrounding their reservations. Today, there is the promise of a “fix” with the construction of a fish screen and fish passage at the dam to provide fish access to the Truckee River’s spawning areas from Pyramid Lake all the way to Lake Tahoe.

The Newlands Project: Promise of irrigation ignored Native Americans

Historical photo of Derby Dam at its dedication in 1905
Derby Dam (1905) diverts Truckee River Water
away from Pyramid Lake into a canal for use in the Newlands Project

The diversion dam was the first of five irrigation projects authorized after passage of legislation sponsored by Nevada Senator Francis Newlands and built by the newly minted Reclamation Service now renamed the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau). Completed in 1905, the Newlands Project named after the legislation’s namesake, consisted primarily of Derby Dam connected to a 31 mile long diversion canal – the Truckee Canal.†

Together the structures set in motion the dessication of Winnemucca Lake east of Pyramid Lake, an 80 foot drop in water level of Pyramid, the extirpation of the native Lahontan cutthroat trout in Pyramid Lake in the 1940’s, and near extinction of the Cui-ui fish that the Pyramid Lake Paiute People relied on for food for thousands of years and symbolized their cultural identity. Cui-ui are endemic to Pyramid Lake and migrate up the Truckee River to reproduce. The Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) became a threatened species and the Cui-ui endangered under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe together with others who wanted to see the restoration of the LCT to Pyramid brought another strain of LCT to Pyramid Lake from a population found on the Summit Lake Reservation in northern Nevada. The fish had to be raised in hatcheries on the Pyramid Lake Reservation because they didn’t have access to spawning areas in the Truckee River any longer.

† Lahontan Dam was built later and completed in 1917 and allowed more diversions from the Truckee River for storage.

Truckee River water cascades into Lahontan Reservoir at the end of the Truckee Canal.
Truckee River water cascades into Lahontan Reservoir at the end of the Truckee Canal.

More recently the original native strain of Pyramid Lake Lahontan cutthroat trout has been reintroduced into Pyramid Lake. The Cui-ui are successfully spawning using water releases from upstream reservoirs during its spring spawning season. Fish hatcheries operate at Numana and Sutcliffe on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation for the propagation of both species.

Truckee River Operating Agreement and Water Quality Agreement …

Lahontan Cutthroat Trout at Sutcliffe fish hatchery on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.
Lahontan Cutthroat Trout at Sutcliffe fish hatchery on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.

… between the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe and upstream users have lead to better management of the Truckee River to the benefit of both fish species through improved river flows and water quality. However, Derby Dam and the Truckee Canal remain a blockage to restoring the trout which for millennia migrated the 120 miles from Pyramid Lake up the Truckee River to Lake Tahoe every year to spawn a new generation of fish. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe never gave up on restoring their fishery dependent on the flows of the Truckee River.

Derby Dam on the Truckee River diverts water to Lahontan Valley
Derby Dam on the Truckee River diverts water to Lahontan Valley

Now, the Bureau and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are nearing completion on a nearly $24 million fish-passage project at Derby Dam and the Truckee Canal to help the annual spawning migration of the Lahontan cutthroat trout.

Fish Passage Construction completion slated for Fall 2020

Slated to be completed this fall, constructed fish screens in a “bypass canal longer than a football field” will keep fish from becoming trapped in the canal. An AP article appearing in the Nevada Appeal explained, “The bypass canal will include an 80-foot-wide, 390-foot-long horizontal fish screen — actually a metal plate with slots that pushes water down through the water system while sending the fish and other debris through the side channel”. The article quotes Jody Holzworth, deputy regional director of the USFWS, saying “This day is 100 years in the making. The fish screen will allow this iconic species to travel beyond Derby Dam, from Pyramid lake to their spawning grounds, for the first time in more than a century.”

Credit: Farmers Conservation Alliance
Construction of fish passage at Derby Dam diversion April 2020. Credit: Farmers Conservation Alliance

Dan Mosley, executive director of Pyramid Lake Fisheries for the PLPT, said the people of the tribe have a long history of fighting for the fish which “are really important in our stories and culture.”

Soon it should be possible for the Lahontan cutthroat trout to pass the diversion dam at Derby and have access to the Truckee River all the way to Lake Tahoe. We wish them a safe journey.

Sources: Nevada Appeal, McMillen Jacobs Associates, RGJ.com

USFWS: Recovery of LCT and Cui-ui

Fish Videos: Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, Cui-ui fish