Columbia River Water Management Program (CRWMP) Review of Year One Upper Crab Creek Planning Unit Meeting April 17, 2007

Columbia River Basin

What’s the Problem? 360 existing water rights subject to interruption during summer low flows of drought years 465 applications for new water rights on file Future growth of municipalities and agricultural industry in peril Fish needs of tribes, commercial fishermen, and recreational fishermen in jeopardy

Columbia River Bill— What Does Legislation Do? Aggressively pursue new water supplies for both instream and out-of-stream uses New water supplies from both conservation and storage Formula for allocation of new water – 1/3 for instream flows; 2/3 for out-of-stream uses Establishes mechanism for Voluntary Regional Agreements Future water supply and demand forecast

How Are We Going To Pay For It? And Who’s Going To Do The Work? Legislation established a water supply development account with authorization for bonds up to $200 million –Capital Budget: $20 million FY 05-07; projected investment of $50 million for FY –Operating Budget: $2 million and 15 new FTEs

CRWMP Program Goals & Objectives Conservation Measures Promote water conservation by providing grants for water conservation projects, and by encouraging development of “voluntary regional agreements”. Optimize Existing Infrastructure Optimize management of existing Columbia Basin Project infrastructure such as Banks Lake, Pinto Dam, Potholes Reservoir, and associated water delivery systems (canals & ditches). Construct New Storage Construct off-channel reservoirs to store a portion of Columbia River winter flows for release in the summer months, to meet the needs of both instream and out-of- stream water users.

Contents - An assessment of potential programmatic impacts - Identification & assessment of a few “early actions” EIS evaluated: - Programmatic elements include storage, conservation, voluntary regional agreements, account administration, etc. - Evaluation of policy alternatives - Early actions (Lake Roosevelt drawdown, Potholes alternative feed route, CSRIA VRA) Schedule: - Draft EIS issued October 5, Final EIS issued February 15, 2007 Environmental Impact Statement

How To… - Evaluate and fund proposed storage and conservation projects? - Calculate net water savings from conservation? - Define “acquisition” and “transfer”? - Initiate and process Voluntary Regional Agreements? - Define “no negative impact” to instream flows? - Define main channel and one-mile zone? - Coordinate VRA mitigation and processing of new water rights? - Coordinate VRA and non-VRA processing of new water rights? - Fund projects associated with VRAs? Policy Alternatives

Information Management Enormous effort initiated to construct a comprehensive Columbia River water resources information database

Voluntary Regional Agreements A VRA is a voluntary agreement between Ecology and a group of water users Consultation Requirements - 60-day consultation with selected groups: County governments Watershed planning units WDFW Federal agencies Tribes - Post-consultation negotiation with proponent - 30-day public comment period Ecology recently completed negotiations for a VRA with the Columbia- Snake River Irrigators Association. The public comment period will start soon.

Purpose: Replace withdrawals of groundwater from declining Odessa aquifer with Columbia Basin Project surface water (Columbia River water) Schedule: - Appraisal-level report completed in spring EIS to be completed by summer 2010 Odessa Subarea Special Study

Columbia River Basin

Lake Roosevelt Drawdown Purpose: Withdraw up to 102K acre-feet of water stored in FDR Lake to provide water for: - Odessa Subarea - Municipal and industrial needs - Interruptible water rights during drought years - Instream flow augmentation Actions: - Colville Tribe environmental assessment - Supplemental EIS required - Water right permitting decisions by Ecology

Columbia River Basin

Purpose: Increase operational flexibility and reliability of Columbia Basin Project by providing an additional route for conveying project water to Potholes Reservoir Schedule: - Design/NEPA Environmental Assessment completed July Construction initiated during fall 2007 or spring 2008? Potholes Supplemental Feed Route

Columbia River Basin

Purpose: Evaluate potential for large, off-channel storage site or sites to store between 1.1 and 2.3M acre-feet of water. Schedule: - Appraisal-level study underway. - Feasibility-level study will be initiated in 2009, if funded. Columbia Off-Channel Storage

Columbia River Basin

Purpose: Evaluate alternatives to store water to improve anadromous fish habitat, reliability of irrigation supplies, and availability of water for municipal needs. Several alternatives being evaluated. Schedule: - Appraisal-level study completed in October Yakima Basin Storage EIS Scoping in January Feasibility study and Environmental Impact Statement to be completed by November 2008 Yakima Basin Storage (Black Rock Reservoir)

Columbia River Basin

2006 Report to Legislature Columbia River Water Supply Inventory  First report in November 2006  Annual inventory updates (RCW ) Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast  First report in November 2006  Updates every 5 years 2006 Reports

̵Consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders ̵Consultation with other states with Columbia River interests ̵Consultation with Canada ̵Selection and implementation of initial projects Year Two and Beyond

Project selection and implementation process: ̵Establish & refine funding criteria ̵Screen and rank proposed projects, with review and recommendations by CRWMP Technical Advisory Group ̵Selection of projects to be funded, with decisions made by Ecology in consultation with CRWMP Policy Advisory Group and watershed planning units ̵Approval from Legislature to spend funds in account Project Selection— “Harmonization” with Watershed Planning