Final_CA_Drought_Contingency_Plan-11-18-2010a

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California Drought Contingency Plankills in spring 2008 and 2009 that included Endangered Species Act listed species (cohosalmon and steelhead) occurred, attributed to wine grape growers’ water use forgrapevine frost protection. The National Marin Fisheries Service formed a frostprotection task force in 2008, and in February 2009 requested emergency regulationsfrom the State Water Control Board (SWRCB). SWRCB held an informational workshopin April 2009 on water use for frost protection; follow-up action will be determined.Drought is more commonly an additional stressor for fish populations that may alreadybe experiencing long-term declines for multiple reasons including loss of habitat,competition from introduced species, and water quality degradation. In 2008 and 2009,for example, the Pacific Fishery Management Council banned commercial salmonfishing off the coast of California, in reaction to depleted salmon stocks attributedprimarily to unfavorable ocean temperature and food availability conditions. Similarly,the status of, and factors affecting, declines in fish populations migrating through orresident in the Delta are being extensively discussed in several forums; review of thethis subject is beyond the limited scope of this document.Central Valley state and federal wildlife refuges included in the Central Valley ProjectImprovement Act (CVPIA) have received full supplies (100% of so-called Level 2 refugesupplies, the water dedicated from CVP yield for refuges) from the CVP in 2007-2009.CVPIA further directed USBR to purchase additional supplemental water for wildliferefuges (so-called Level 4 refuge supplies). It is presently too soon to determine howmuch Level 4 refuge water USBR will be able to acquire in 2009; this information will beincluded in the end-of-year update of this report. If no Level 4 refuge water supplieswere purchased, full Level 2 supplies would represent about 71% of the amount ofwater USBR believes is needed pursuant to CVPIA.RecreationRecreation Impacts of the present drought on recreation are not readily discernable atthe statewide level, especially when considering the confounding impacts of currenteconomic conditions and recent high gasoline prices. (Poor economic conditions mayactually increase attendance at local facilities such as reservoirs, when people chooseto curtail longer trips in favor of nearby recreational destinations.) Recreational sectorsthat may be impacted by drought include ski resorts, reservoir-based activities, andriver-based activities (e.g. rafting). Some recreational facilities within these sectors areable to take adaptive measures such as snowmaking, relocating floating boat docks,extending boat ramps, or changing rafting locations to mitigate drought impacts.Drought impacts on water-based recreation are highly localized, depending not onlyupon the adaptive capacity of recreational facilities, but also upon the magnitude of sitespecificimpacts. Taking reservoir-based recreation as an example, only some of theSierran reservoirs popular with boaters have experienced significantly lower waterelevations. At sites such as USBR’s Folsom Lake -- where low water levels forcedrestrictions on boat operations and early curtailment of marina operations in 2007 and2008 -- the reservoir’s proximity to a major urban area still results in high levels of visitor64
California Drought Contingency Planusage for other activities at the site. Many factors influence attendance at thesefacilities, but drought does not stand out as a causative factor.AgricultureThe agricultural sector clearly demonstrates the site-specific nature of drought impacts.Agricultural drought impacts are normally felt earliest by those relying on unmanagedwater supplies – entities carrying out dryland grazing and non-irrigated crop production(usually grain crops). Impacts to irrigated agriculture depend on the source and natureof the irrigation water supply – local groundwater, local surface water, or importedsurface water – and any water rights or contractual provisions that may be associatedwith the source. The extent to which producers may mitigate water shortage impactsdepends on multiple factors, but is heavily influenced by economic considerations.Factors involved in making decisions about mitigating irrigation water shortages includeavailability and costs of pumping groundwater, price of alternative surface watersources, capital investments associated with maintaining permanent plantings, andstatus of international crop markets.Impacts of drought on dryland grazing are difficult to capture well, due to the absence ofstandardized metrics that provide comparable information across differing agencyjurisdictions (e.g. county agricultural commissioners, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureauof Land Management) and industry programs. The California State Office of the U.S.Bureau of Land Management estimates that animal unit months (an indirect measure offorage) on lands under its jurisdiction dropped about 8% from 2006 to 2008, althoughdrought may be only one of several reasons for the decline. (Current economicconditions, for example, could result in permittees stocking less than the maximumnumber of allowed livestock.) Indirect information on drought impacts to rangeland maybe inferred from county-level requests for U.S. Department of Agriculture disasterdeclarations used to authorize provision of financial assistance; however, manycounties are presently still in the process of compiling 2009 impact information forconsideration by USDA. A table of county-level disaster declarations and estimateddamages will be included in the year-end update of this report, by which timeinformation on designations made in response to spring and summer conditions will beavailableWestlands Water District and other CVP contractors on the west side of the SanJoaquin Valley were hit disproportionately hard by the 2007-2009 Drought. They arejunior water rights holders, heavily-dependent on imported supplies. In 2009, WestlandsWD fallowed more than 156,000 acres of their roughly 570,000 farmed acres, and theirfarmers were unable to harvest more than 41,000 planted acres. Westlands growersfallowed an average of about 69,000 acres each year during the 2000-06 period.During that period they never failed to harvest more than 2,000 acres in a year.Preliminary and later forecasts of the jobs that would be lost in the San Joaquin Valleydue to the water shortages ranged from about 2,000 jobs lost to about 21,000 jobs lost.A September 2010 study of the economic impacts of the 2009 San Joaquin Valley watersupply cuts produced estimates of total employment lost due to the direct plus indirect65
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Final_CA_Drought_Contingency_Plan-11-18-2010a

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