This week’s California Water Plan eNews includes:

• Water agencies participating in California’s Native American Day celebration
• Advisory group will discuss ways to quantify efficiency of agricultural water use
• Strategic Growth Council provides a vision for linking land use to climate policy
• The effects of fire will be discussed at watershed forum tomorrow in Chico
• Work begins on tidal restoration project for they Suisun Marsh
• Two-day DSC meeting will include single-year water transfers public hearing
• CCST marks 28 years of promoting science and technology in California

AB 2480 recognizes source watersheds as infrastructure and a critical component of the state’s water system. The legislation also calls for a prioritized and comprehensive investment plan to restore and conserve key watersheds. AB 2480 is the first step in putting together a comprehensive system to reduce these risks and promote water security and adaptation under climate change.

The bill, AB 2480 (authored by Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica), officially recognizes five critical Sierra Nevada and Cascade watersheds as important pieces of the state’s water infrastructure. It enshrines in state policy the importance of restoring forests, meadows and streams in these watersheds, and make such projects eligible for state water-project grant funding.

Travel the Sierra Valley Art & Ag Trail, for views of Sierra Valley Bar Quilts and opportunities to visit market farms, working ranches, a pumpkin patch, and to sample the wares of artists of every color – weaver, welder, potter, painter, photographer, carver, jeweler, pyrographer, wood-worker, boatbuilder, furniture maker, blacksmith, stained glass artist, basketmaker and more!

On September 28-29, the Groundwater Resources Association of California will host its 2016 Conference and 25th Annual Meeting, which will provide policy makers, practitioners, researchers and educators the opportunity to learn about the current policies, regulations and technical challenges affecting the protection, use and management of groundwater in California. This year’s conference contains expanded sessions addressing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. In addition, there will be several sessions on ongoing and emerging water quality issues.

To view the conference agenda, please visit:

https://www.grac.org/media/files/files/9393d294/2016_AnnualGRAConference.pdf

This week’s California Water Plan eNews includes:

• Date set for first California Water Plan Update 2018 plenary meeting
• 2015 UMWP data available for public access on Water Use Efficiency website
• Program puts spotlight on the impacts of long-term water conservation
• Water quality symposium highlights posted in a series of 15 videos
• Technical reference offers methods for quantifying water storage project benefits
• Outlining the steps to identify and manage climate change refugia

Benjamin Spillman, bspillman@rgj.com 6:04 a.m. PDT August 22, 2016

Research: Changing snowmelt cycles could deprive streams and reservoirs

Changing snowmelt cycles could be more damaging to mountain streams and reservoirs in the Western U.S. than previously thought, according to recently published research.

That’s according to research that shows slow-melting snowpack reduces the amount of water that makes it into streams and reservoirs.

The results have ramifications for everyone from water managers to anglers to kayakers, essentially anyone who values mountain streams.

“This likely means net changes in the amount of water available to reservoirs draining snowmelt area,” said Adrian Harpold, a University of Nevada eco-hydrologist who worked on the research. “That is the big implication.”

What’s interesting about the research is that it shows a slower snowmelt results in less water making it into streams and reservoirs. That’s counterintuitive for many who assume, under a climate change scenario, faster snowmelt would be a bigger problem.

“One misperception is snowmelt runs off the surface,” said Harpold, whose team used computer modeling to simulate snowmelt throughout the Western U.S.

Really, he said, snowmelt seeps into the soil which fills like a sponge before feeding into streams and reservoirs.

When it melts quickly the sponge fills up and the water seeps out. But when there’s a slower melt the water stays in the soil where it gets taken up by vegetation and then goes into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration.

“That slower snowmelt is a less efficient generator of streamflow and sort of an unrecognized negative consequence for water supply,” Harpold said.

But with climate change resulting in warmer nighttime lows, fewer freezing days and a higher snowline in the future shouldn’t the snowpack melt faster, not slower?

Not necessarily, Harpold said.

That’s because temperature isn’t the only driver of rate of snowpack depletion. Solar radiation, or sunlight, is an even bigger factor.

Under a warmer winter or drought scenario, snowpack is more likely to be smaller and to start melting sooner.

And that means there will be less snow to melt and some of it will be melting earlier in the year when there is less sunlight, which means it will melt more slowly than a large snowpack that’s melting in mass quantities in April and May when sunlight is abundant.

That’s bad news as the climate warms and even worse news during droughts, Harpold said.

“Drought is going to be kind of a double whammy for us in the future,” he said. “Not only are we getting less precipitation … but that precipitation may be less efficiently generating streamflow.”

Although the research suggests the process for snowpack boosting mountain streams will be less efficient in the future, it’s difficult to say by how much. Harpold said more research is needed.

“How well do we understand our snowpack,” he said. “We don’t really know how sensitive our snowpack is or how sensitive our water supply is to snowpack changes.”

The findings, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters with six researchers as co-authors, showed snowpack and streams in the southern Rocky Mountains were most at risk. But it suggested risk for the Sierra Nevada and across the west, as well. Harpold worked on the project at University of Colorado, before moving to Nevada.

Co-author Noah Molotch, the director of the Center for Water, Earth, Science and Technology at Colorado University in Boulder, Colo., said the findings showed a similar pattern across the west, which means broad ramifications.

“Given that 60 million people in the Western U.S. depend on snowmelt for their water supply, the future decline in snowmelt-derived streamflow may place additional stress on over-allocated water supplies,” Molotch said.

This week’s California Water Plan eNews includes:

• $29.8 million in grants recommended for water use efficiency projects
• Legislature receiving report on agricultural water management plans
• Additional facilitation made available to help agencies develop groundwater plans
• Information fair to provide details on new water measurement regulations
• Levee investment to be discussed at next Delta Stewardship Council meeting
• Climate change issues on the agenda for California Adaptation Forum

The Draft Upper Feather River Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Plan is available for a 30-day public review from August 15, 2016 to September 14, 2016.

IRWM is a collaborative effort to identify and implement water management solutions on a regional scale that increase regional self-reliance, support collaborative relationships, and manage water to concurrently achieve social, environmental, and economic objectives. One of the benefits of developing a DWR-compliant IRWM Plan is that it will support local and regional efforts to secure grant funding for projects identified as part of the planning process. A key goal of the IRWM planning process has been to garner public participation and input from residents, Tribes, and stakeholders within the region to create a Plan that reflects the priorities of communities and stakeholders in the region.

The Draft Plan can be accessed from the project website at http://featherriver.org/draft-irwm-plan; copies are available for reading at the offices of Plumas and Sierra counties and the City of Portola.

Three public meetings will be held to present the Draft Plan and receive comments.

Quincy:  August 19, 2016 (regular RWMG meeting); County of Plumas, 555 Main Street, Quincy, CA 95971

Chester:  August 31, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm (public meeting); Almanor Recreation Center, 400 Meadowbrook Loop, Chester, CA 96020

City of Portola:  September 1, 2016, 6:00-8:00pm (public meeting); City Hall, 35 Third Avenue, Portola, CA 96122

Comments on the Draft Plan are encouraged and should be submitted in writing by September 14, 2016 to:

Uma Hinman, Project Coordinator
UFR.contact@gmail.com
555 Main Street, Quincy, CA 95971

This week’s California Water Plan eNews includes:

• Resource management strategies meet needs of each region of California
• 35 people invited to join executive order agricultural advisory group
• Weather station workshop will show how data can help with planning irrigation cycles
• Busy month for water commission includes three briefings, meeting
• Presentation on the economics of groundwater management set for next week
• USGS study looks at corrosive potential of untreated groundwater
• Joint meeting will focus on development of Delta Levees Investment Strategy