Reclamation cancels water surges on Klamath River

Herald and News 6/1/17

The Bureau of Reclamation announced Wednesday that Klamath River emergency dilution flows will not be required this year to mitigate the effects of a fish parasite.

That means 50,000 acre feet of water that was to be flushed down the river will remain in Upper Klamath Lake and could benefit irrigators and the wildlife refuges.

The parasite is called Ceratanova shasta (or C. shasta) that affects migrating juvenile salmon heading to the sea.

The announcement is made following weeks of monitoring parasite spore concentrations and prevalence of C. shasta infection among out-migrating salmon, according to a press release. The monitoring was conducted by Oregon State University, the Karuk Tribe and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In February, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Reclamation to implement two types of flows to mitigate the effects of C. shasta on juvenile salmon; winter-spring flushing flows designed to dislodge and flush out an intermediate host for the parasite, and emergency dilution flows designed to reduce the concentrations of parasite spores in the water column.

The winter-spring flows were conducted on multiple occasions during February and March 2017, after which Reclamation shifted its focus to planning for implementation of emergency dilution flows, which the court ordered to be implemented between April 1 and June 15 if certain disease thresholds were exceeded.

Specifically, the court ordered Reclamation to utilize up to 50,000 acre feet to implement emergency dilution flows if:

• C. Shasta spore concentrations exceed 5 spores/liter based on quantitative polymerase chain reaction at any sampling station, or
• Prevalence of infection of all captured juvenile Chinook salmon exceeds 20 percent for the preceding week at the Kinsman Rotary Screw Trap site.

These flows would be required until June 15 or until 80 percent of juvenile salmon had migrated to the sea if either of the preceding two thresholds were exceeded.

The court order also specified that the USFWS Arcata Office would develop the out-migration estimation model. The Arcata Office released the results of the model May 15 which estimated that 80 percent of the wild Chinook had out-migrated by the week of May 7-13.

To ensure a reasonable level of confidence that the wild salmon out-migration was complete, the court required an additional seven days be added to the estimate, making May 20 the last day emergency dilution flows could be required in 2017.

“Now that the emergency dilution flows are not required this year,” said Jared Bottcher, acting Water Operations Chief for the local BOR office, “Upper Klamath Lake will remain fuller to meet the needs of endangered suckers and also improve the possibility of water deliveries to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge later in the season, consistent with provisions contained within the 2013 Biological Opinion.”

Reclamation appreciates the close coordination between a number of partners that allowed for expedited processing of fish and water samples, and the development of an emergency dilution flow plan, the press release said.

Reclamation is encouraged by the near ideal conditions experienced by juvenile salmon during spring and it will operate the Klamath Project for the remainder of the water year consistent with the 2013 Biological Opinion.

The court order and its flow requirements will remain in place until reconsultation of the 2013 Joint Biological Opinion is completed in early 2019, the release said.

The biological opinion is used by the BOR to protect endangered species of fish and helps it guide its water releases

Summary of Reclamation actions: (Web only)

Summary of winter-spring flushing flows provided in 2017:

The Court ordered Reclamation to implement two types of flows to mitigate the effects of C. shasta on juvenile salmon; winter-spring flushing flows designed to dislodge and flush out an intermediate host for the parasite, and emergency dilution flows designed to reduce the concentrations of parasite spores in the water column. The following is a summary of the winter-spring flushing flows that were provided in the 2017:

• On February 10-12, and as a result of the hydrologic conditions occurring at that time, Reclamation was able to provide a surface flushing flow of 6,030 cfs for 72 hours and a deep winter-spring flushing flow of over 8,000 cfs for 24 hours. During the event, IGD flows reached a peak of 10,000 cfs (~12,200 acre-feet).
• On February 22-24, Reclamation coordinated with a number of stakeholders to release a shaped” flood control flow that met the criteria contained within the Court Order to dislodge and flush the intermediate host of C. shasta. Increased flow releases through Link River Dam began on the afternoon of February 22, as the UKL elevation had risen above flood control guidelines. UKL releases increased to approximately 6,400 cfs and IGD flows increased to approximately 9,300 cfs (on 2/23/17).

How Reclamation will operate now that emergency dilution flows are no longer necessary in 2017:
 

Reclamation will operate consistent with the Proposed Action contained within the 2013 BiOp for the remainder of the 2017 operating season.

If the emergency dilution flow criteria relative to disease would have been exceeded, Reclamation would have provided up to 50,000 acre-feet of water from UKL to reduce the concentration of spores in the Klamath River. This volume of water would have been provided from the Klamath Project's allocation of 390,000 acre-feet from storage within Upper Klamath Lake. Now that the emergency dilution flows are not required this year, Upper Klamath Lake will remain fuller to meet the needs of endangered suckers and also improve the possibility of water deliveries to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge later in the season, consistent with provisions contained within the 2013 BiOp.

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