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CONCEPTS, PRACTICES, and PROCEDURES USED to DISTRIBUTE WATER WITHIN WATER DISTRICT #1 Upper Snake River Basin, Idaho

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CONCEPTS, PRACTICES, and PROCEDURES USED to DISTRIBUTE WATER WITHIN WATER DISTRICT #1 Upper Snake River Basin, Idaho WATER DISTRICT #1 CONCEPTS, PRACTICES, AND PROCEDURES USED TO DISTRIBUTE WATER WITHIN WATER DISTRICT #1 Upper Snake River Basin, Idaho Tony Olenichak 2/28/2020 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 7 DEFINITIONS .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1: WATER DISTRICT #1 GEOGRAPHIC AREA AND DIVERSIONS ................................................. 15 1.1 Water District #1 establishment and evolution .............................................................................. 15 1.2 Tributaries regulated by Water District #1 that are not in the computerized water right accounting and “futile call” ..................................................................................................................... 16 1.3 Snake River tributaries not regulated by Water District #1 ............................................................ 17 1.4 Groundwater diversions .................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 2: CALCULATION OF NATURAL FLOW ...................................................................................... 19 2.1 Water right accounting river reaches ............................................................................................. 19 2.2 Reach gain equation ........................................................................................................................ 22 2.3 Reservoir evaporation loss and seepage ......................................................................................... 23 2.4 Summing reach gains to calculate total natural flow ..................................................................... 27 Chapter 3: NATURAL FLOW DISTRIBUTION ........................................................................................... 29 3.1 Prior appropriation doctrine and water rights ................................................................................ 29 3.2 Remaining natural flow calculation ................................................................................................. 30 3.3 Computing storage deliveries.......................................................................................................... 33 3.4 Reach actual flow, natural flow, and storage flow .......................................................................... 33 3.5 Reach priority determination .......................................................................................................... 35 3.6 Ungaged or calculated river reaches ............................................................................................... 38 3.7 Reach losses deducted from available natural flow or storage conveyance .................................. 39 3.8 Distribution to multiple diversions with identical priority dates .................................................... 41 3.9 Natural flow distribution to single entities with multiple points of diversion, including “combined diversions” .............................................................................................................................................. 45 3.10 Negative remaining natural flow, negative stored flow, and exchanging storage ....................... 46 3.11 Adjustments when losses exceed the reach natural flow ............................................................. 47 Chapter 4: ADJUSTING REACH GAINS FOR WATER TRAVEL (LAG) TIMES ............................................. 49 4.1 Water right accounting water travel times ..................................................................................... 50 4.2 Milner time vs. Actual time ............................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 5: REACH GAIN AVERAGING .................................................................................................... 55 5.1 Reach gain fluctuations caused by imprecise travel time ............................................................... 55 2 February 28, 2020 5.2 Reach gain fluctuations caused by imprecise measurement of reservoir content ........................ 55 5.3 Determining appropriate number of days to average reach gains ................................................. 56 5.4 Reach gain averaging consequences ............................................................................................... 58 5.5 Using different time periods for reach gain averaging in adjacent reaches ................................... 59 5.6 Discrepancy in reservoir system contents due to gain averaging ................................................... 60 Chapter 6: SPRING CREEK ADJUSTMENT AND AMERICAN FALLS GAIN DIFFERENCE ............................ 61 6.1 Reach gain calculation using Spring Creek correlation ................................................................... 61 6.2 Discrepancy in reservoir system contents due to Spring Creek Adjustment .................................. 63 Chapter 7: PROJECTING CURRENT AND FUTURE DIVERSIONS, REACH GAINS, AND PRIORITY DELIVERIES .................................................................................................................................................. 64 7.1 Computing reach projected data .................................................................................................... 65 7.2 Projected water right accounting accuracy .................................................................................... 66 7.3 Increased projection accuracy when remaining natural flow is zero ............................................. 67 Chapter 8: DAILY ACCOUNTING OF STORAGE ACCRUAL AND DELIVERY .............................................. 69 8.1 Reservoir water rights, spaceholder contracts, and ownership ..................................................... 69 8.2 Natural flow distribution to reservoirs versus canals/pumps ........................................................ 70 8.3 Determining new reservoir accrual from the daily accounting printout ........................................ 72 8.4 Water right accrual (paper fill) vs. water physically stored in the reservoir .................................. 74 8.5 Reservoir operations and reservoir releases ................................................................................... 75 8.6 Storage accrual affected by downstream reach losses................................................................... 75 8.7 Storage delivery to tributaries without reservoirs ......................................................................... 76 8.8 Moving storage from downstream reservoirs to upstream reservoirs ......................................... 77 8.9 Storage past Milner and Milner Spill .............................................................................................. 78 8.10 Milner Spill determination ............................................................................................................ 78 8.11 Flow augmentation, Idaho Power, and IWRB storage delivery .................................................... 79 8.12 The practice of cancelling storage usage ...................................................................................... 80 8.13 Storage refill water rights .............................................................................................................. 80 8.14 Distribution and allocation of refill storage .................................................................................. 82 8.15 Late-season fill, length of storage season, reservoir water right volume limits and reset date for annual reservoir water right accrual ....................................................................................................... 83 Chapter 9: STORAGE ALLOCATIONS AND CARRYOVER DISTRIBUTION USING STORAGE REPORT ........ 85 9.1 Day of Allocation – Distribution of accrued storage to spaceholders ............................................ 85 9.2 Reductions to storage allocations attributed to flood control and other reservoir operations .... 86 3 February 28, 2020 9.3 Estimation and distribution of preliminary storage evaporation losses ......................................... 87 9.4 Allocation of reservoir storage fill to spaceholders ........................................................................ 89 9.5 Determination of reservoir carryover for spaceholders with multiple reservoir allocations ......... 93 9.6 Final carryover and excess storage usage ....................................................................................... 96 Chapter 10: SPECIAL CALCULATIONS TO ACCOMMODATE EXCEPTIONAL DELIVERY CONDITIONS ...... 97 10.1 Reach losses in the Below Blackfoot to Near Blackfoot reach ...................................................... 97 10.2 Groundwater exchange wells ....................................................................................................... 98 10.3 Diversions in different reaches that share water rights ............................................................... 99 10.4 Great Western Canal Spillway adjustment ................................................................................. 100 10.5 CrossCut Canal delivery to Falls River Canal and Teton River ....................................................
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