Glimpses of IRBM researches/approaches around the World

Twin2Go in a nutshell

Twin2Go reviews, consolidates, and synthesises research on integrated water resources management (IWRM) in basins around the world. Over the past years, the EU has funded several projects that undertook research on specific IWRM issues in case studies carried out on twinned river basins in Europe and in developing countries. The aim of Twin2Go now is to draw policy relevant research results on issues around ‘adaptive water governance in the context of climate change’ and to make them transferable to other basins.

The consolidated outcomes will feed into best practice guidelines for the implementation of adaptive water governance. To ensure up-take of the research results in water resources management practice and political decision making, all synthesis activities will involve stakeholders from the projects and basins and outcomes will be effectively disseminated to all relevant levels of target groups including high level decision makers in water policy.

Tomorrow's groundwater, today's challenge
Agriculture researcher Betty Klepper explains water in the Umatilla River Basin

By BETTY KLEPPER Umatilla County Critical Groundwater Taskforce

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third in a series of biweekly articles by members of the Umatilla County Critical Groundwater Taskforce about the work the group has been doing.

Have you ever looked at the water in the Umatilla River and thanked your lucky stars? You probably couldn't make a living here if we did not have this essential resource. Without the waters of the Umatilla River Basin, our region would be much less developed and prosperous than it is today.

The Umatilla River flows from high in the Blue Mountains to the Columbia River and drains an area of nearly 2,500 square miles. This drainage area is the Umatilla River Basin. Within the basin, terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, native and cultivated plants, and humans and their domesticated animals all depend on the precipitation that falls inside the basin boundaries for their water.

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All of the major water users from our basin

The AJC has put together a nice map showing all of the major users (water systems, industrial, power plants and recreational) along the Chattahoochee river basin — 36 users highlighted in all.

Seeing this helps to explain why so much water is released from Lanier each day. The water from there needs to feed all of those places and still be at 5,000 cfs (3.2 billion gallons/day) when it is in Florida.

However, there are many small creeks and rivers that feed into the river to help reach the 5,000 cfs flow. The problem is that all of those rivers are running below normal, which means they have to drain even more water from Lanier to help make up for it.

The 16% reduction that may or may not happen starting today would be a reduction in that 5,000 cfs mandate, lowering it 4200 cfs. This would mean that the releases from Lanier could be reduced a bit, though they might see a slow increase after that to compensate for less and less help from the other rivers feeding into the Chattahoochee.

River runoff improves

Nov 15 2007 6:18AM
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) More water than normal ran into the Missouri River system last month for the first time in many months.

The U-S Army Corps of Engineers says runoff was 4 percent above normal.

However, that still leaves runoff about 16 percent short of normal for the year.

This is the 8th year in a row for drought in the Missouri River Basin.

Consequently, the downstream navigation season has been shortened by 35 days.

Lake Oahe (oh-WAH'-hee) ended October at 18.5 feet below normal, but it's 8 feet higher than a year earlier.

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Basin panel prepares NYC Delaware River reservoir rule-making

To better balance of competing

uses and needs

WEST TRENTON, N.J. n Basin officials are preparing rules to help manage New York City’s three Delaware River reservoirs.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) at its Sept. 26 meeting directed staff to begin the public rulemaking process to implement an amended Flexible Flow Management Program for operation of the three New York City Delaware Basin reservoirs.

The flow program is intended to provide a more adaptive means for managing the Cannonsville, Pepacton, and Neversink reservoirs for multiple, competing uses, including water supply and drought mitigation, management of the reservoir tailwater fisheries along with other habitat needs, and spill mitigation. The 1954 decree, which resolved an interstate water dispute centering on the city reservoirs, made no provision for spill mitigation, conservation or ecological releases.

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Knox presents new water rules
State water engineer presents Republican

	Saturday, October 6, 2007 1:25 AM MDT
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River Basin draft; to take effect Dec. 1, 2008

By Carol Barrett
Journal-Advocate agriculture editor

HOLYOKE — State Water Engineer Ken Knox called a meeting here Wednesday, the first in a series of five to be held Oct. 3 and 4 across the Republican River Basin. About 75 people turned out to hear about the new regulations and rules designed to bring Colorado into compliance with the Republican River Compact.

Among the people accompanying Knox was Peter Ampe, from the Colorado Attorney General’s office. Knox identified Ampe as the state’s lead attorney on interstate water compact issues.

Since the compact was signed in 1942, hundreds of irrigation wells have been drilled in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. For many years, Colorado has been sending less water than required downstream. Kansas brought a lawsuit against Colorado and Nebraska for noncompliance with the Compact.

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Saving Walker Lake really a 'feel good' proposal? Picture Mason Valley without 80% of its farms

Posted: 10/5/2007

For the umpteenth time, we'd love it if Walker Lake could be 'saved' and Mason and Smith Valleys would not be adversely affected. Fat chance of both happening without some sweeping changes in legislative proposals, though. And don't U.S. Senator Harry Reid and the federal government kind of have the cart before the horse?

When it comes to attempts to gain options for water right sales from upstream owners in Mason and Smith Valleys to send downstream to Walker Lake, shouldn't they first be required to prove that such water delivered to the lake can indeed 'save' the lake without adversely affecting agriculture, domestic and municipal users upstream?

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Ariz. fights changes in Colo. River plan

Shaun McKinnon
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 4, 2007 12:00 AM

Arizona balked Wednesday at proposed changes to a Colorado River drought plan and appealed to the federal government to settle the dispute or delay approval of the plan.

In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and the other six states that take water from the Colorado River, Arizona officials said attempts to rewrite an agreement reached earlier this year put Arizona's share of the river at an unacceptable risk.

"We worked hard to try to put together this agreement, and the only thing Arizona asked is that it did not harm Arizona water users," said Herb Guenther, director of the state Department of Water Resources.

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Native Americans, Visitors Celebrate Return of Salmon to US State of Washington
By Mike O'Sullivan Central Washington State 02 October 2007

O'Sullivan report (mp3) - Download 625k
Listen to O'Sullivan report (mp3)

Each year, salmon head upriver to their spawning grounds in the Columbia River basin in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington. Mike O'Sullivan reports, the event has inspired a festival in which Native Americans and wildlife experts help visitors celebrate the salmon.

Icicle Creek

Beginning in March, the fish start the arduous journey 800 kilometers upriver from the Pacific Ocean.

These Spring Chinook salmon are heading for the Wanatchee River and Icicle Creek, in the shadow of the majestic Cascade Mountains.

Salmon once thrived here, but over the years dams, overfishing and habitat destruction have diminished their numbers.

So 60 years ago, the U.S. government established a hatchery to give them some human help. Workers collect more than 1.5 million salmon eggs and raise the fish in tanks for 16 months. The young salmon are then released and head for the ocean. Guided by their sense of smell, they will return in a few years to spawn.

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Recovery of ravaged Dominican rivers starts in a few weeks

SANTO DOMINGO. – The recovery of the Nizao River basin will start in the next few weeks, paid for by the companies which extract aggregates in that zone, said Environment minister Omar Ramirez on Tuesday. "They must recover it because it it’s an obligation of the sector which has lived off the extraction of materials.” He said in one week Environment will manage brigades paid by the companies, to work and recover those areas and once the river’s level is reestablished the companies have 90 days to begin dismantling their machinery. He said the lack of a superficial current causes confusion in the Nizao, where only the water table remains. The official said the aggregate associations of the Nizao, Yuna and North Yaque rivers have been legally notified of the measure.

It's a new water year in California: Facts and figures

By: Department of Water Resources (DWR) Published: Oct 1, 2007 at 10:47

October 1st is the beginning of the 2007-2008 water year which will last until September 30, 2008.

During this period, Department of Water Resources (DWR) hydrologists and meteorologists will measure precipitation (the combination of rain and snow) and runoff in the Northern Sierra and other key watersheds and produce runoff forecasts.

The northern Sierra and southern Cascades are of particular importance because that's where most of the state's water supply accumulates. Measurements are taken in the watersheds of the major rivers, including the Sacramento, Feather, Yuba and American. Snow surveys are conducted throughout the Sierra range and other mountains to measure water content. The first Snow Survey will be around the first of December, the date to be announced.

The data that is gathered is evaluated to forecast water supply for the spring and summer, the heaviest months of water use by farms and homes.

For the Sacramento River basin the past 2006-2007 water year finished as the 18th driest in the 102 year record of stream flow measurements.

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The inside scope on Montana Water Laws and HB831

Water in the West: The State of Montana’s Hydro-Future

By Rep. JP Pomnichowski, Guest Writer, 10-01-07

Editor’s Note: As we all know in Montana, water is a precious resource, particularly in areas of rapid development and growth. The following column is written by one of the authors of House Bill 831, which assisted in closing water basins in areas that water availability closely matches water demand. She describes the history of water laws in Montana and how HB831 revised these laws in order to construct a viable future.

Montana epitomizes the West. It is a land of vast and open spaces, dramatic mountain ranges, blue-ribbon trout streams, wildlife habitat, ranches and Western towns, herds of livestock, mighty rolling rivers; it’s Big Sky Country. And it’s easy to forget the basis upon which Montana has built its success--its lifeblood, water.

In Montana, the crucial role of water has been tested by energy development, urban development, agriculture, wildlife and wildlife habitat, and recreation. Every feature of Montana is affected by water.

The state recognizes water rights for many beneficial uses, and water is so precious that our constitution declares that all waters of the state are the property of the state for the use of its people. We’ve recognized that water is precious since before the state’s inception, and there are laws against wasting water, the first passed in 1873. Water rights have been claimed in the region simply by putting water to beneficial use from the time when the area was a Territory, before statehood was granted in 1889.

With water rights sometimes a century old or older, Montana water law recognizes the first-come, first-served prioritization of water rights. It’s called the prior appropriation doctrine, which honors ‘first in time, first in right’ water claims.

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Sydney Conference to Address Challenges of Mighty Mekong River Basin
By Phil Mercer Sydney 27 September 2007

Combating poverty and developing the economies of Southeast Asia's Mekong River region are the focus of an international conference taking place in Australia. As the conference opened, the Australian government announced a major increase in its spending on energy and infrastructure in the region. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney, where the conference is being held.

Boy carries plastic bag of water he collected from Mekong river, near Phnom Penh, Cambodia (File)

The Mekong is the 11th longest river in the world. The name means "Mother of Rivers" in the language of Laos, one of the countries the river passes through. It provides livelihoods for 60 million people, many of them among the poorest in the region.

The conference at Sydney University is looking at ways to improve economic opportunity and water management along with environmental protection along the river's banks.

Ready for the next big flood?

It’s not a matter of if –it’s a matter of when

KARREN RHODES
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 9/26/2007

Anyone who has lived in the greater Dayton area for a few years probably knows that the sometimes empty --sometimes overflowing Carson River that runs from one end of central Lyon County to the other will wreak havoc on occasion.

That awareness is all too familiar to residents Linda Clements and her husband John Crowley. The couple knows first-hand how the Carson River can take everything you own and strew it for miles downstream. They were victims of the 1997 100-year flood of the Carson River.

When you talk to the couple they have total recollection as if the tragedy hit yesterday. They lived in a rental home down in the Harbor Road area --a neighborhood tucked along the Carson River and nestled among cottonwood trees off of U.S. 50. "At first it looked like we would be spared --then it (the river) took just about everything," said Linda Clements, adding that the family is still trying to recover from their loss a decade later.

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AUSTRALIA: New funding announced for Mekong River Basin - 27/09/2007

The Australian Government has announced new funding for the Mekong River Basin, home to many of Asia's poorest people. An extra $US140 million is to go to new roads, rural electricity and water management programs.


SNOWDON: The Mekong region is a priority area for Australia's aid program.

The Government has announced a new five year strategy with funding of 140 million US dollars over four years to help promote economic development and cooperation.

The Mekong River - one of the world's largest, provides the livelihoods for 60 million people as it passes through six countries.

Four of those - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao - are members of the donor funded Mekong River Commission. Five million dollars of the aid package will go to the commission.

The Commission aims to foster cooperation and sustainable, pro-poor and environmentally responsible

State, local water users will gather Monday to discuss future water use in the Cape Fear River basin (9/26/2007)

RALEIGH – State water resource experts will meet on Monday with water users of the Cape Fear River Basin to discuss the future water usage plans in the basin, which includes the Haw and Deep river basins.

Officials with the N.C. Division of Water Resources report that a number of cities and industries have announced plans for increased future withdrawals of water from the Cape Fear River. The evaluation of these proposed increased water uses will need to consider the sustainable capacity of the Cape Fear River and the cumulative effect on the river of the proposed increased uses. Monday’s meeting, set for 1 p.m. at the Fayetteville Public Works Commission, will include brief updates by sponsors of new water use proposals, including the amount, location and timing of the planned withdrawals.

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USGS: Salinity levels improving in southwestern streams

According to the USGS salinity levels in many southwestern U.S. streams has dropped over the last couple of decades. From the article:

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released a report today describing salinity levels in streams and ground water in parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The report concludes that although salinity varies widely throughout the region, levels have generally decreased in many streams during the past two decades. Elevated salinity levels, or concentrations of dissolved solids, can limit the suitability of water for many uses, including agricultural production and drinking water. Trends in dissolved-solids concentrations in streams were evaluated from 1974 through 2003. "The greatest change occurred during 1989 to 2003, when annual dissolved-solids concentrations decreased at more than half of the sites throughout the region," explained lead author and USGS hydrologist Dave Anning. "The reductions were widespread, as indicated by decreases at nearly all of the sites on the main stem of the Colorado and Green Rivers. We also noted increases at about one-third of the sites, while the remaining sites showed no trends."

Decreases in salinity are attributed, in part, to natural causes, such as geomorphic changes or climate variations. They also may be associated with human-related factors, such as changes in land and water use, reservoir management, trans-basin exports, and implementation of salinity-control projects. Salinity control projects include activities like using low water-use irrigation systems and re-directing saline water away from streams. USGS findings show that dissolved solids decreased from 1989 through 2003 at all sites downstream from salinity-control projects, and that the decreases were greater than decreases upstream from projects. For example, estimated annual loads of dissolved solids in the Gunnison River in the Upper Colorado River Basin decreased by about 162,000 tons per year downstream from the Lower Gunnison salinity-control unit, in contrast to a decrease of only 2,880 tons per year upstream from the unit. This net decrease is about 15 percent of the annual load in the lower Gunnison River. "This is good news," said Dr. Robert Hirsch, Associate Director for Water, "and shows successes from the region's investments in salinity control over the past several decades." Salinity-control projects have been implemented since the mid-1970s by the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Land Management to control salinity of water delivered to Mexico, per the 1974 Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act...

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River down to lowest level ever

09/25/07 By Andrea Freygang

Rome officials said although Monday’s 13-inch water level at the Oostanaula River pumphouse is the lowest ever recorded, it isn’t causing the city any problems yet.

City Manager John Bennett said the city can still meet the average demand of about 10 million gallons per day, but because of the low water there’s no way the allowable maximum of 18 million gallons per day can be withdrawn.

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Delaware River plan to remain unchanged

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

By BRUCE A. SCRUTON

bscruton@njherald.com

WEST TRENTON — Faced with an end-of-the-month deadline, the Delaware River Basin Commission will likely vote to continue with a water management plan which everybody seems to agree isn't working, but which the parties apparently can't agree on how to change.

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Hopeful Signs for River Basin
By NATE JENKINS 09.24.07, 4:06 PM ETKEARNEY, Neb. -

Nebraska may still wind up in court for using more Republican River water than allowed, but the state is building a case that it shouldn't be punished with millions of dollars in damages or be forced to shut down irrigation wells.

Gov. Dave Heineman told water officials from across the state Monday there is a very good chance the Republican basin will be below its water use cap next year, under a three-state compact that includes Kansas and Colorado.

Data shows Nebraska will be under the cap this year - but with a caveat. A key portion of the basin near Kansas may be over its allocation under a measure of use during water-short years, which this year is.

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