Summer 2013 RECLAMATIONManaging Water in the West Plains Talk NEWS FROM THE GREAT PLAINS REGION Alcova - Best Small Recreation Reservoir: WYAO’s Facility Sees 100,000 Vistor Days Title XVI Greens Dell Diamond Stadium: OTAO’s Water Reuse Program Garners Results Water Rights: A 21st Century Issue with Ancient Roots Plains Talk Issue 01-2013: contents PUBlISHER Tyler Johnson 1 The Evolution of Water Rights “We do not know the value of water as long as the well isn’t dry. -Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 1732. Buck Feist ASSISTANT EDITOR 3 Montana’s “Fitness Animals!!” Sterling Rech “In an office setting, it’s easy to become complacent and lazy, but once I clip on the MTAO pedometer I become a Reclamation “Fitness Animal,” said Anthony Chavez, Administrative GRAPHICS Support Assistant, MTAO. Jerry leggate Tobias Taylor 4 Head Covers: Overhauling the Estes NEWSPAPER TEAM Paula Holwegner, Montana Power Plant Patience Hurley, Dakotas Jay Dallman, Wyoming The head covers at Estes are the originals, installed in the late 1940s. After 60-plus years of Kara lamb, Colorado work, they leak. Kimberley Parish, Oklahoma & Texas Nancy Wilson, Nebraska & Kansas 6 Finding Water Information on the GP Internet Plains Talk is an employee publication devoted to the in- Critical water information and more available with the click of a mouse. terests of Reclamation’s Great Plains Region. Plains Talk is published from the Great 8 Alcova Reservoir - Best Small Recreation Plains Office of Public Affairs. To be added to the Plains Talk Reservoir in the West mailing list, submit your name and mailing address: “We experienced over 100,000 visitor days in 2010,” said Mike Haigler, NCRBP. “By 2030, we expect to see nearly 130,000 visitor days.” Bureau of Reclamation U.S. Department of the Interior 316 North 26th Street 10 Joint Venture with the Joint Board Billings, MT 59101 Phone: 406-247-7610 “We are tremendously happy with the success we’ve been experiencing conducting these Email: [email protected] repairs in this manner,” said Kay Blatter, President of the Milk River Joint Board of Control.” Submission Guidelines: 12 Fremont Canyon Power Plant Turbine Articles and other materials for publication should be sent to Overhaul the Great Plains Public Affairs Office, Attn: Plains Talk Editor, Reclamation responds to cavitation issues on Fremont Canyon Power plant turbines. GP-1240, or email to bfeist@ usbr.gov. 14 Title XVI Greens Dell Diamond Stadium Plains Talk encourages em- ployee submissions, and as- Innovative water management techniques provide 2,500 acre-feet per year of reclaimed water sists with developing ideas. to various customers throughout the city. Questions about stories or photographic essays should be directed to the Plains Talk edi- tor, at 406-247-7610. Cover: The Code of Hammurabi is a well-pre- served Babylonian law code, dating back to about 1772 B.C. Water Rights, p. 1 contents 15 Jamestown Dam Saves Taxpayers $200M Jamestown Dam was completed in 1954 and has since provided benefits for flood control, irrigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife. 16 Information Portal: GP Intranet Employees receive exclusive access to features like blog posts, a question of the week, links to training schedules, the DOI learn portal, and a host of other tools that help simplify internal Web navigation. Alcova Recreation, p. 8 18 OTAO Demonstrates Potential Desalination Solutions in Texas Reclamation engineers demonstrate a new way to treat both seawater and brackish groundwater. 20 Great Plains Region, Steady as She Goes ... “I was please with the results this year,” said Ryan. “It was encouraging to see that GP is holding our own during challenging times and continues to maintain the hard-won progress from previous years.” Jamestown Dam, p. 15 DKAO Battles Ice and Flood to Restore 22 Habitat Benefits A repaired trash fish barrier helps promote growth of native water vegetation for water fowl downstream of Arrowood National Wildlife Refuge. 24 Change in Weather “In places above Green Mountain, Granby, and Reudi reservoirs, we had snow pack numbers coming into March that didn’t even make 60 percent of average.” Fish Barrier, p. 22 26 GP Celebrates Admin Support Professionals Nearly 50 employees attended the 2013 GPASC conference, which recognizes the valuable work of administrative professionals across the region. 27 Red Willow Set for Fall 2013 Completion THE EVOLUTION OF WATER RIGHTS Whiskey Is for Drinking; Water is for Fighting (Above) Scratching a living from the arid grasslands of the American West often led to conflicts over water between neighbors - and sometimes between states. National Guard units and militias have been mobilized to protect water sources in the past, and a sound legal framework plays a crucial role in regulating the use and control of water. By Buck Feist, GPRO treaties, federally reserved water water is the most vital element for rights, interstate compacts and short-term human survival. But “We do not know the value of state laws. while air is ubiquitous, access to water as long as the well isn’t All four methods impact water water is limited and supplies are dry.” operations in the nine-state Great finite. -Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732 Plains Region. The earliest example of codified “Water rights are critical to responsibilities and penalties re- Water rights are primordial. Reclamation operations,” said lated to water management sprang Since the era of the woolly mam- Mike Ryan, Great Plains Regional from the cradle of civilization, the moth, humans have been devel- Director. “Water rights impact Mesopotamia valley. The Code of oping and refining the customs, every citizen in the United States, Hammurabi is a set of Babylonian laws, practices and precedents whether they realize it or not.” laws dating back to 1772 B.C. governing the use and control of The Code is among the most water. The Advent of Codified Water ancient texts in the world. The In the United States, water Rights: sixth Babylonian king, Hammu- rights are governed by an over- In purely biological terms, water rabi, enacted the Code, which was lapping network of international is fundamental to life. Next to air, carved onto an eight-foot-high black stone monument for public viewing. The laws defined the most serious crimes and punishments, including the regulation of irriga- tion, water theft and the mainte- nance of weirs and canals. As the global population has increased from about a million people at the dawn of the Neolith- ic Era, 12,000 years ago, to more than 7 billion today, the laws, cus- toms and practices regulating the use and distribution of water have become more complex and more vital to the peaceful functioning of society. Water Rights: Still the Law of the Land The concept of establishing water rights developed from the generally held idea of protecting the public interest to encourage economic development and pre- vent waste. There are two types of water right systems in the United States: the riparian doctrine and the ap- propriation doctrine. The riparian doctrine originated in England, and is suitable to a hu- mid climate where supply exceeds demand. Not surprisingly, the ripar- ian doctrine was adopted in the eastern United States. The riparian (Above) The Code of Hammurabi (1772 BC) is among the most ancient doctrine grants rights to use water examples of codified water law. A nearly complete example of the Code based on land ownership along a survives today on a 7.4 ft diorite stele on display at the Louvre Museum in stream with equal rights to water Paris, France. SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS use among land owners. Reminiscent of the mining days, the riparian and appropriation Beneficial use, not land owner- many older water rights have doctrines is generally the east- ship, is the basis under the appro- the flow rate in units of miners- ern boundary of the Great Plains priation doctrine. Priority of date inches. In Montana, for instance, Region. of initiation of use, not equality of 40 miners-inches equal one-cubic- Appropriative water rights are right, is the basis of allocation of foot per second. property rights. They have the water when supply is not suffi- same character of ownership as Water Rights in the Great Plains cient to meet demand. a house or car. The rights can be Region: The West was first settled by bought or sold, with some limita- All states in Great Plains Region miners and the appropriation tions depending on location. follow the appropriation doctrine. doctrine evolved in a similar man- The predominate characteristic The demarcation line between ner as applied to mining claims. of the appropriation doctrine is page 1 that water rights can be adminis- In Wyoming and Nebraska, state Water rights associated with tered or regulated when supply is water agency personnel adminis- Reclamation projects are owned not sufficient to meet demand. ter water rights. by water-user entities such as This means that during water In Montana, a majority of water irrigation districts, municipalities shortages, a water right with a ju- users on a source of water supply and conservancy districts; held nior priority date may be prevent- must petition a state district court jointly by the water user entities ed from diverting water, so a more to appoint a water commission to and Reclamation; or held solely senior priority water right has suf- administer water rights. by Reclamation. ficient water to meet their demand Some river systems in the region Of the 800 water rights associ- or beneficial use – in other words, have water rights administered ev- ated with Great Plains Region “first in time, first in right.” ery year, while some river systems projects, about one-half are The appropriation doctrine is never have water rights adminis- owned by water user entities.