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Washington State Climate Change Adaptation Efforts in the Water Sector

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Title: Washington State Climate Change Adaptation Efforts in the Water Sector


1
Washington State Climate Change Adaptation
Efforts in the Water Sector
  • Kurt Unger
  • Policy and Planning, Water Resources Program
    Washington State Department of Ecology

2
The Water Issues What We Know
  • Climate change will mean less water when its
    needed most
  • Theres already not enough water to go around in
    the summer
  • Climate change will push policy makers to make
    tough decisions
  • Acting sooner rather than later preferable but
    politically challenging
  • States and provinces in the Columbia River Basin
    share same resources but dont collaborate enough

3
Water Issues What We Dont Know
  • What will our streams and aquifers look like in a
    climate changed future?
  • Planning used to be based on the historic record,
    what should it be based on now?
  • Can we adapt? How?
  • How much water are people using?
  • How much can people conserve?
  • Can different states and provinces find some
    common ground on water policy?
  • Will climate change serve as a catalyst for
    action?

4
Climate Change Will Mean Less Water When Its
Needed Most
  • Spilling water for salmon vs. generating power
  • Less water - warmer water
  • Less groundwater - warmer surface water
  • Warmer air - crops, lawns need more water
  • More water, more pumping, more energy
  • Warmer air - more energy to power AC
  • More water needed to generate power
  • Factor in population, Governors Executive Order

5
Population Growth People Need Water
6
Population GrowthPeople Need Water
  • Projected Population Growth Extrapolating Current
    Trends
  • Current population 6.3 million
  • 2025 population 8.1 million
  • 2050 population 10.3 million

7
Everything Else Needs Water Too
8
Incorporating Climate Change into Decision
MakingThe Need for Action
  • Observed and Projected (2020s, 2040s)
    Streamflow at the Dalles

9
Incorporating Climate Change into Decision
MakingDealing with Uncertainty
10
Governors Executive Order Washington Climate
Change Challenge
  • By 2020, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
    levels
  • By 2035, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25
    below 1990 levels
  • By 2050, reduce emissions to 50 below 1990
    levels
  • Population Context
  • Population in 1990 4.8 million
  • Population in 2050 10.3 million
  • Per capita C footprint will need to be lt25 of
    1990

11
The CAT, PAWGs and TWGs
12
Big Picture CAT, PAWGs, TWGs
  • Formed to assist Ecology and CTED in developing
    recommendations for the Governor on how
    Washington can prepare and adapt to the impacts
    of climate change.
  • Incorporate climate change into law, policies,
    rules, planning, thinking
  • Brainstorming
  • Low hanging fruit at first
  • Task forces to study/work more complicated issues
  • Likely an evolving, continuing process

13
  • Western Regional Climate Action Initiative
    (2/26/07)
  • Set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
    (GHG)
  • Develop regional market based multi-sector
    mechanism to achieve regional GHG reduction goal
    (cap and trade)
  • Participate in a multi-state GHG registry
  • Identify measures in our states, tribes and
    provinces to adapt to climate change

14
Freshwater PAWG Update
  • 4 meetings to date, 4 more planned before
    December
  • Currently developing Action Priorities around
  • Drought
  • Water management
  • Conservation
  • Information gathering
  • Planning
  • Outreach

15
Freshwater PAWG Drought
  • Drought Preparedness Account (DPA)
  • Funding nearly depleted
  • Currently no bonding authority
  • Bonds could be sold on an as-needed basis to
    support a multi-year preparation and response
  • An active DPA would help folks adapt to
    increasing frequency of drought
  • Funding could be tied to
  • Development of drought response plans
  • Goals for achieving efficiency and conservation
    targets in non-drought years as well
  • Whats a drought?
  • Is it really an emergency if it happens every
    year?

16
Defining Drought in a Climate Changed World The
Changing Relationship Between Normal and the
Mean of the Historic Record
  • normal    
  • - adjective
  • 1. conforming to the standard or the common
    type usual not abnormal regular
  • 2. serving to establish a standard
  • - noun
  • 1. the average or mean

17
Climate Change as a Catalyst Drought Planning
  • How is drought defined in statute?
  • Undue hardship, 75 of normal supply
  • Whats normal in a changing data set?
  • Mean historic record? Clearly, no
  • Mean last 30 years?
  • Mean last 20 years?
  • Mean last 20 years and projected 20 year future?
  • Whos future?
  • How does the State promote drought planning as
    opposed to more frequent emergency responses?

18
Case StudyLittle Spokane at Dartford
19
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20
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21
Setting the Record Straight
  • Defining normal as running 20-year mean
  • 28 decrease in frequency of possible drought
    declarations during last 10 years
  • If normal mean of historic record, and thats
    no longer reflective of current normal
    conditions, what do we do?
  • Options
  • Less difficult Ecology rule that defines how
    normal is calculated for drought purposes
  • More difficult change the drought statute
  • Do nothing, just declare drought more often
  • Does that strategy promote adaptation?

22
Freshwater PAWG Water Management
  • Address current barriers to the sustainable
    regulation and management of groundwater
    resources (exempt wells)
  • Explore means to achieve instream flows
  • Enforce penalties for illegal use
  • Explore new water storage options

23
Climate Change as a CatalystPermit Exempt Wells
  • RCW 90.44.050 Exemptions to the Permit
    Requirement to Withdraw State Waters
  • No permit is required for any withdrawal of
    public ground waters for stock-watering purposes,
    or for the watering of a lawn or of a
    noncommercial garden not exceeding one-half acre
    in area, or for single or group domestic uses in
    an amount not exceeding five thousand gallons a
    day, or as provided in RCW 90.44.052, or for an
    industrial purpose in an amount not exceeding
    five thousand gallons a day

24
Permit Exempt Wells Some Assumptions and
Guesstimates
  • Most wells are on septic
  • Domestic use largely (90?) non-consumptive
  • Outdoor use largely (90?) consumptive
  • Outdoor use in the summer is for lawn and
    gardening, requires lots of water (shallow roots)
  • Theres about ¾ million wells in WA, ¼ million
    likely abandoned/decommissioned
  • Approximately 8,000 new wells/year
  • Most are permit exempt
  • This probably represents about 80 of actual
    total
  • Approximately 1,000 decommissioned/abandoned
    wells/year

25
Climate Change as a CatalystPermit Exempt Wells
  • Exemption caveats
  • Only exempt from the permit process
  • 1997 AGO permit exemption does not apply to a
    group of wells constructed as part of a single
    development
  • Ecology v. Campbell and Gwinn (2002)
  • Developer wanted to develop 20 lots using 20
    permit exempt wells
  • It is the developer, not the homeowner, who is
    seeking the exemption in order to drill wellsand
    provide for group domestic use in excess of 5,000
    gallons

26
Climate Change as a CatalystPermit Exempt Wells
  • Some areas of the state are allowing permit
    exempt well developments to proliferate in such a
    manner that could be interpreted as contradicting
    the intent of Campbell and Gwinn
  • Whats a project?
  • Some decisions to allow such developments may not
    be considering
  • The cumulative effect of such withdrawals on the
    aquifer and streams the groundwater feeds
  • The cumulative effect of such withdrawals on
    senior water rights
  • The long-term viability of such a policy
  • Factor in climate change

27
Its Not Really Whether or Not Theres Water,
Its Where Would that Water Have Gone?
28
Climate Change as a Catalyst Permit Exempt Wells
29
Climate Change as a Catalyst Permit Exempt Wells
30
Climate Change as a Catalyst Permit Exempt Wells
31
Climate Change as a Catalyst Permit Exempt
Wells Kittitas Petition
  • APA derived citizen petition recently filed for
    Ecology to withdraw Kittitas County groundwater
    resources until such time that sufficient
    information and data are available to allow for
    sound decisions on future withdrawals per RCW
    90.54.050
  • 1200 permit exempt wells since 2002
  • Alleges 6,000 lots await development, vast
    majority allegedly will use permit exempt wells
  • Alleges developers are avoiding Campbell and
    Gwinn via LLCs
  • Seniors alleging potential water quantity/quality
    impairment from cumulative effect of permit
    exempt wells
  • Yakima

32
Kittitas County Petition More of These in a
Climate Changed Future?
  • RCW 90.44.130 Between appropriators of public
    ground water, the prior appropriator shall as
    against subsequent appropriators from the same
    ground water body be entitled to the preferred
    use of such ground water to the extent of his
    appropriation and beneficial use, and shall enjoy
    the right to have any withdrawals by a subsequent
    appropriator of ground water limited to an amount
    that will maintain and provide a safe sustaining
    yield

33
Climate Change as a Catalyst Enforcement
  • Calls for more enforcement are becoming
    increasingly more common
  • Climate change will breed more conflict
  • More water masters?
  • Caveat Ecology can only regulate users in an
    adjudicated basin (Rettkowski v. Ecology (1993))

34
Climate Change as a Catalyst Adjudication
  • Adjudication definition
  • Legal process whereby each water right is
    examined and a determination on the validity and
    quantity associated with each right is made
  • Adjudication Need
  • Wide discrepancy between wet and paper water
    rights
  • More difficult to regulate/protect instream flow
    rights without adjudication
  • Accurate information helpful for effective water
    banks
  • Only 10 of land area in Washington adjudicated

35
Climate Change as a Catalyst Adjudication
  • Adjudication is time consuming
  • and expensive
  • Yakima, 30 years and running
  • only surface water
  • Other options
  • Water courts
  • A bill that would have established water courts
    was introduced in 2005. It had one hearing and
    died. Reintroduced in 2006, died.
  • Streamlined adjudications

36
Climate Change as a CatalystMoving Beyond
Setting Instream Flows
  • Climate change will make it more difficult to
    achieve instream flows
  • Could instream flow rules
  • Define achievement?
  • Identify a funding source to purchase senior
    water rights?
  • What if there are no willing sellers?
  • RCW 90.54.010 Instream resources and values
    must be preserved and protected so that future
    generations can continue to enjoy them
  • RCW 90.54.020 Perennial rivers and streams of
    the state shall be retained with base flows
    necessary to provide for preservation of
    wildlife, fish, scenic, aesthetic and other
    environmental values, and navigational values.

37
Climate Change the Storage Debate
  • Off channel storage
  • Cost benefit analysis
  • Recreation and drawdown
  • Funding
  • Hanford
  • Small storage, rain catchment
  • Aquifer storage and recovery

38
Freshwater PAWG Conservation
  • Fund water conservation activities
  • Promote water conservation
  • Support/adopt stronger efficiency standards
  • Promote reclaimed water
  • Promote low impact development

39
Climate Change as a Catalyst Decreasing Demand
via Conservation and Efficiency
  • Climate change will exacerbate supply and demand
    conflicts in the summer
  • How much will people voluntarily conserve?
  • After the voluntary peak, whats next?
  • Conservation incentives via state cost sharing?
  • Efficiency standards?
  • Economic incentives?
  • Like mandatory LEED, mandatory WaterSense for
    state buildings, schoolsbeyond?
  • Decoupling profit from consumption in utility
    rates to increase conservation?

40
Climate Change as a Catalyst Reclaimed Water
  • Encouraging reclaimed water
  • What about new consumptive uses?
  • In Yakima, thats impairment
  • Compensation/mitigation must be agreed to by
    holder of impaired right
  • Governor vetoed 2007 change to just
    compensation
  • Mandating reclaimed water for certain uses?
  • Toilet flushing?
  • Golf courses?
  • Recreational fields?
  • Some agriculture?
  • Mandatory reclaimed for new housing developments?
  • More than 40,000 homes in Melbourne, Australia
    must get purple pipe for toilet flushing, washing
    cars and watering gardens, lawns

41
Climate Change as a Catalyst Encouraging Low
Impact Development
  • Climate change will push communities that want to
    continue growing to push for LID
  • Localized greywater, stormwater treatment
  • Localized storage, rain harvesting
  • More permeable surfaces local aquifer recharge
  • Restoring/maintaining natural hydrologic
    functions

42
Freshwater PAWG Information Gathering, Science
  • Develop better understanding of water use

43
Climate Change as a Catalyst Wheres all the
Water Going?
  • More gages, groundwater monitoring
  • Mandatory metering
  • Ecology required to meter 80 of use in 16 fish
    critical basins
  • Ecology goal to meter 90 of surface and ground
    water diverted from the Columbia within a
    one-mile corridor by June 2009
  • In Yakima River Basin surface water diversions
    are required to be metered per County Superior
    Court orders
  • Can we do more?
  • Non-critical basins too?
  • Mandatory telemetry?

44
Climate Change as a Catalyst Wheres all the
Water Going?
  • Can we meter permit exempt wells?
  • Just started this in the Walla Walla
  • What about going statewide?
  • Estimated ½ million wells with 8,000 new
    wells/year
  • Costs to implement and administer worth the
    benefit?

45
Freshwater PAWG Planning and Outreach
  • Incorporate climate change into comprehensive
    plans under GMA
  • Incorporate climate change into SEPA
  • Engage the public to raise awareness about
    climate change
  • Engage watershed planning groups to consider
    climate change

46
Climate Change Other Water Policy Issues
  • Water quality
  • Water temperature
  • Flooding
  • Agriculture
  • Forests
  • Human Health
  • Recreation

47
Viewing Water Policy through a Carbon Lens the
Energy Water Nexus
  • Meeting the Governors Executive Order will push
    all communities to weigh the carbon footprints of
    different water policies
  • What part can the water sector play in reducing
    carbon emissions?
  • Centralization vs. decentralization
  • Energy to treat/transport stormwater, greywater
    vs. local, on site
  • Water conservation energy conservation
  • Water efficiency energy efficiency
  • Ex. Hot water heaters vs. tankless heaters
  • Less pollution less treatment energy
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