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Great Basin Land & Water Study GREAT BASIN LAND & WATER STUDY Issues and Opportunities for Acquiring Water from Willing Sellers to Increase Walker Lake Inflows April 2007 Submitted to: Natural Resource Conservation Service U.S. Department of Agriculture Reno, Nevada Grant Agreement No. 68-9327-5-08 Submitted by: San Francisco, California and Carson City, Nevada Prepared by: David Yardas Consulting Project Director Great Basin Land & Water Study Truckee, California Acknowledgements For the past 20 months I have served as Consulting Project Director to Great Basin Land & Water (GBLW) for purposes of undertaking and completing this Great Basin Land and Water Study. In this capacity, and on behalf of GBLW, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to the many individuals who generously shared their time, knowledge, and expertise in support of our collective efforts. We are especially indebted to Bill Elder, Maggie Liebel, Peggy Hughes, and Rod Dahl of the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Reno, who graciously administered the federal funds provided for this Study. GBLW’s consultants, including Andy Stroud, Tim Minor, Steven Malloch, and Larry Silver, provided invaluable assistance on a wide array of topics as well as first-class work products that have vastly improved this report. Jim Shaw, Linda Bowman, Ken Spooner, and Gordon DePaoli shared many important insights and furthered our understandings about water rights administration and management in the Walker River system. Numerous academic and agency professionals, including Saxon Sharpe, Rosemary Carroll, John Tracy, Carol Grenier, Alf Brandt, Randy Pahl, Tom Lopes, Dan Jacquet, Richard Grimes, Tom Strekal, Barb Cosens, John Kramer, Lisa Heki, Tom Gallagher, Mark Fraga, Richard Delmas, and Allan Biaggi responded generously to our repeated requests for information and shared their own unique insights and perspectives on many topics. Representatives of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, including Wes Williams, Chad Williams, John McMasters, and others listened patiently to our questions and shared their views and concerns where possible. Special thanks to Lou Thompson, Simeon Herskowitz, John Marshall, Gerry Emm, Peggy Twedt, Susan Lynn, Nancy Shanahan, Aaron Peskin, and Janet Sewell for all their help and advice; and to Mary Conelly, Senator Reid’s state director, whose support made this Study possible, and whose enthusiasm and commitment in the face of extraordinary challenges has been nothing short of remarkable. I am particularly grateful to Rob Scanland, GBLW’s Nevada Program Manager and staff principal on this Study, for his expertise, professionalism, good cheer, friendship, and many substantive contributions. And I am especially indebted to my bride, and our children, for all their love, patience, and support over the course of these many months. Finally, on behalf of GBLW, I accept full responsibility for any errors in or omissions from this report, notwithstanding all of the excellent advice and assistance noted above. David Yardas [email protected] Truckee, California April 27, 2007 Great Basin Land & Water Study i Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 The Walker Lake Basin: An Overview........................................................................... 3 2.1 Water Management Infrastructure............................................................................. 3 2.2 Water Management and Administration.................................................................... 5 2.3 Irrigated Acres .............................................................................................................. 5 2.4 Surface Water Diversions............................................................................................. 6 2.5 Groundwater Withdrawals.......................................................................................... 8 2.6 Water Rights and “Over-allocation” .......................................................................... 8 3.0 Walker Lake.................................................................................................................... 10 3.1 How much water does Walker Lake need? .............................................................. 11 4.0 Water Rights Overview .................................................................................................. 16 4.1 Decreed Natural Flow Direct Diversion Rights........................................................ 16 4.2 Surface Storage Rights ............................................................................................... 18 4.3 Flood Water Rights/Allocations................................................................................. 20 4.4 Groundwater Rights ................................................................................................... 21 4.5 Decree C-125: A Comprehensive Adjudication? ..................................................... 22 5.0 Changes to Existing Rights ............................................................................................ 24 5.1 Overview ...................................................................................................................... 24 5.2 Decreed Natural Flow Rights..................................................................................... 24 5.3 Storage Rights ............................................................................................................. 28 5.4 State-Permitted Rights ............................................................................................... 31 5.5 Agreements to Facilitate Individual Changes .......................................................... 32 6.0 Acquisition Alternatives and Considerations............................................................... 34 6.1 Walker River Basin Advisory Committee Report Summary ................................. 34 6.2 Western Environmental Water Transaction Report Summary............................. 36 6.3 Direct Purchase and Term Agreements.................................................................... 37 6.4 Current Acquisition Funding Authority................................................................... 38 6.5 Property Specific Acquisition Considerations ......................................................... 39 6.6 Stewardship Needs and Retired Farmlands............................................................. 42 6.7 O&M Agreements....................................................................................................... 43 7.0 Proposed Acquisition Framework................................................................................. 45 7.1 Principal Elements...................................................................................................... 45 7.2 Existing Programs & Authorities.............................................................................. 46 7.3 Potential New Programs............................................................................................. 52 8.0 Tables, Figures, and Exhibits......................................................................................... 64 9.0 References........................................................................................................................ 92 Appendices (attached separately) A. GIS Study of Trends in Irrigated Lands B. Recent Market Sales of Water, Land, and Related Interests C. Yield Analysis of Surface Water Rights D. History of Water Right Transfers E. Legal Analysis of Water Rights and Transfers F. Western Environmental Water Transactions Survey G. Additional Information Great Basin Land & Water Study ii GREAT BASIN LAND & WATER STUDY Issues and Opportunities for Acquiring Water from Willing Sellers to Increase Walker Lake Inflows April 2007 1.0 Introduction Walker Lake is one of only a handful of large, perennial, freshwater terminal lakes found in the arid high-desert along the western edge of the Great Basin in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada. Fed by the interstate (California-Nevada) Walker River system, Walker Lake has been declining in volume and elevation, and increasing in salinity, ever since the advent of irrigated agriculture and associated upstream diversions in the mid-1800s. Salinity levels currently exceed 15,000 mg/l and threaten the Lake’s ecological collapse; its demise is all but assured absent timely, significant, and sustained increases in inflows. This report is part of a study initiated in the fall of 2005 by Great Basin Land & Water (GBLW), a Nevada-based non-profit organization specializing in land and water acquisitions for at-risk freshwater environments in the Great Basin and other western regions.1 Our primary goal was to advance the near-term prospects for acquiring water from willing sellers to serve as the principal means for increasing Walker Lake inflows via the voluntary, market-based recapture of previously-appropriated supplies. In furtherance of this objective, GBLW and/or its contractors undertook the following principal tasks: • Compiled an extensive record of recent market-based sales of land, water, and related interests in key areas of the Basin; • Analyzed the historic yields of surface water rights allocated to lands within the boundaries of the Walker River Irrigation District; • Assessed recent trends in irrigated lands using Geographic Information System (GIS) analyses; • Initiated research into a host of legal and
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