Category Archives: Keep it flowing

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

The Truckee River as Art

Grab your coat, run out the door, and get to the Nevada Museum of Art right away.

The Truckee River is one of the landscapes featured in the captivating art of Phillis Shafer.  She reminds us of nature’s – indeed the river’s – beauty in this exhibition “I only went out for a walk …”.

Phillis Shaffer, Truckee Cradle (2007) Oil on Canvas

Phillis Shaffer, Truckee Cradle (2007) Oil on Canvas

“Tahoe-based painter Phyllis Shafer is one of this region’s most beloved artists, whose work explores the nuances and individual features of the landscape of the Lake Tahoe Basin and its environs …”

She says on her website, “My method is to paint directly from the natural environment. …”  She has some thumbnails of her work on her website.

See her paintings live through May 11, 2014.

It is more than worth the trip to the Museum.

Extreme Drought in N. Nevada and California

20140114_west_trd_Drought_MonitorAs most of us in Reno already know – it is an extremely dry winter.  What does this mean for the Truckee River, Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake?  Likely, without a significant change in the overall precipitation pattern, Lake Tahoe will fall below its rim at 6,223 feet and no more water will flow to the Truckee from Tahoe.  That means that all the water in the Truckee River will have to come from other tributaries – mostly from releases from reservoirs.  The Federal Water Master, Chad Blanchard, told a TV news station, “We are basically out of water in those reservoirs at this time or very close to it.  [The Truckee River flows] will be an absolute trickle but it will be much lower than people are used to.”

The Truckee River has had 14 mostly below to well below average years since 2000 and the current outlook is for continued dry conditions stretching into spring.  [Only 2005, 2008, and 2011 saw well above average precipitation.]  Cities and agriculture use up most of the river  during low flow years leaving less water to maintain natural systems.  Pyramid Lake’s surface elevation is well below its level in 2000.  Pyramid Lake is natural end of the Truckee River, but we divert water from the Truckee for many uses – cities and towns, ranches and farms, and industry such as power plants.  Currently, nearly 65 % of the water in the Truckee River you see flowing through the Truckee Meadows is diverted into the Newlands Project canal at Derby Dam.  Water diverted there never reaches Pyramid lake and instead flows to the Carson River through the Truckee Canal.  How many visitors to Lahontan Reservoir on the Carson River realize that the water entering the reservoir near the dam is actually from the Truckee River?  Right now most of the water filling Lahontan is coming from the Truckee River not the Carson River (which was effectively dry at Lahontan most of the summer and well into the fall).

Truckee Canal ends at Lahontan Reservoir on Carson River

Water from the Truckee River, diverted into the Truckee Canal at Derby Dam, ends in Lahontan Reservoir on the Carson River.  (D. Ghiglieri, January 2014)

Our use of water from all sources, including the Truckee River, depletes water for natural systems. Human uses take significant amounts of water directly from streams and the river leaving smaller amounts for Lakes and in-stream flows.  Effectively, even in an average year, natural systems slide into drought conditions.  In a drought, natural systems can simply disappear and the wildlife they would otherwise support disappear, too.  We have made strides to keep some in-stream flows during droughts through the “Water Quality Agreement” that Reno and Sparks entered into in the 1990’s.  That offers all of us a little hope that the Truckee won’t be dry this year.  If 2015 is dry too, all bets are off.

January 17, 2014:

  • Stampede Reservoir, CA on the Little Truckee River:  50% of capacity (113,000 acre-feet)
  • Prosser Reservoir, CA on Prosser Creek: 22% of capacity (6,620 acre-feet)
  • Boca Reservoir, CA on the Little Truckee River: 17% of capacity (6,882 acre-feet)
  • Donner Lake, CA Storage: 34% capacity (3,270 acre-feet)
  • Independence Lake, CA (Truckee Meadows Water Authority):  80% capacity (14,000 acre-feet)
  • Lake Tahoe CA, NV: 6 inches above its natural rim at 6,223.55 feet of elevation currently in decline.
  • Truckee River flow at the Vista Gauge (leaving Sparks): about 280 cubic-feet-per-second (CFS)
  • Diverted Truckee River water in the Truckee Canal (heading to Lahontan Reservoir): about 180 CFS
  • Truckee River flow at Nixon, Pyramid Lake Pauite Reservation: about 100 CFS

Water from the Truckee River enters Lahontan Reservoir:

Welcome to our new Truckee River website and blog.

 

Floating the river is a popular summer activity which depends on healthy river flows. Floating the river is a popular summer activity which depends on healthy river flows.

Floating the river is a popular summer activity which depends on adequate river flows.

The Truckee River is the keystone of our communities from the town of Truckee in California across the state line in Nevada to the cities of Reno and Sparks, and continuing on to Wadsworth and Nixon on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation. The river is our life blood supplying water for many uses along its 114 mile length.  The river paints a different scene with its sinuous blue ribbon of water through each day and throughout the year.  It talks to its visitors in its turbulent rapids and quiet riffles alike.  It is home to fishes and birds in all seasons.  It is a place of solace for all of us.

The goal on our pages is to remind us that the Truckee River is essential to our way-of-life –  to remind us that we use the river but must not over-use the river – to remind us that a clean river is not just essential to fish and wildlife but to all of us as well – to remind us that flood plains are publicly costly places to develop businesses and infrastructure – to remind us that recreation is dependent on public access to the river – to remind us that flood-control is best achieved by not needing it – to remind us that restoring the river is akin to restoring our future.

We welcome discussion on our pages of the often complex water issues facing our communities. Understanding the important roles of water conservation, water treatment, flood control, river restoration, river recreation, and protecting the river floodplain is necessary to the formation of sound public policies to keep the river healthy for generations to come.  

We hope that the website will also offer background and resource and historical information which will inform us all.  

Your help in commenting and offering feedback will help us in making sure our information is up-to-date and accurate. 

A Unique River of the West

Lake Tahoe during a winter storm

Lake Tahoe during a winter storm

The Truckee River flows just over 110 miles from its source at Lake Tahoe through forested mountains, the town of Truckee, the cities of Reno and Sparks and ends its journey not in the Pacific Ocean, but instead in Pyramid Lake on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.

We all have our reasons for loving this special river which rises in a large mountain lake and terminates in a dazzling desert lake.  I’m taken by its many moods as a high mountain stream of rapids and as a meandering river making blue and green way east and north through the desert.

The Truckee River flows into Pyramid Lake on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.

The Truckee River flows into Pyramid Lake on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation.