Yesterday, Thursday May 24, The Resource Conservation District of Tehama County and the Tehama County Farm Bureau held an SB 88 workshop, explaining requirements and methods for measuring and reporting on stockponds and surface water diversions. Kirk Wilbur of California Cattlemen gave the best explanation I have ever seen on the regulations, what they mean, and how to comply.
I discussed measurement devices and water level loggers, installations, and some Board forms. Here are some really rough notes that I will edit and add to later:
Types of water flow measurement devices
- Weir – water level – Showed model of weir with boards
- With Stilling Well for water level logger
- Orifice – upstream AND downstream water level – Showed model of weir with boards, configured as orifice
- Flume – water level – Showed 2 sheet-metal models, one for 0.9 cfs, one for 1.8 cfs
- Pipe Meter (magnetic or propeller) – velocity
- Acoustic Doppler – velocity
- Rated Section, earth or lined – elevation vs. flow
- Staff gage – elevation
- Pressure transducer, ALL BATTERY POWERED – depth – Showed 2 types: Hobo and PMC data logger
Typical Installations
- Weir – poured, pre-fab, conversion of gate, T-post and boards for temporary
- Weir in ditch
- Splitter weir
- Orifice – can use weir box, boards, steel plate
- Flume – poured, pre-fab, WinFlume built in concrete lined ditch
- Pipe Meter (magnetic or propeller) – 4” – 12” bolt on existing pipe, 12” and larger, replace section of pipe
- Acoustic Doppler
- ditch – Sontek IQ on bottom or Side Looker at side
- pipe – Sontek IQ, Panametric, other
- Rated Section, earth or lined – elevation vs. flow, requires engineer/hydrologist to measure each flow and develop a rating table and curve
- Staff gage – elevation only, goes WITH a measurement device
- Pressure transducer – depth only, Volume WITH area-capacity / elevation storage curve, or WITH measurement device.
Strategies for Success with the Water Board
- CALL them, get to know Kathy Mrowka, head of the Enforcement Program, or Jeff Yeazell, the public contact for non-Delta issues.
- EMAIL them about the compliance steps you are taking.
- INVITE THEM to your place. Showing a green staffer how a ranch or farm really works gives them context.
- CHAIN OF COMMAND – this always works in bureaucracies! If you make it a pain for the boss, you are more likely to be heard or get leniency.
- NEGOTIATE – laws are laws, regulations are regulations, and there are always exceptions, waivers, and so on.
- DON’T DIG IN YOUR HEELS – Water Board folks are human and they are likely to direct their attention to someone who they are mad at.
Alternative Compliance – Water Board survey on web page
- Not approved, denied, or evaluated
- Will be public and can be reviewed, questioned, or criticized by anyone
- May be “audited”, as Kathy Mrowka just told me a couple of weeks ago.
- Estimate pond evaporation – CIMIS
- No guarantee an ACP will not be protested
- Varying risk of protest based on situation – higher risk factors
- Does the stream have salmon or trout?
- Are there other threatened, or endangered species?
- Is the diversion or pond large?
- Is access easy?
- Is there a definite diversion channel?
Alternative Compliance Plans – Reasons I have used:
- PART OF A YEAR, for a diversion or pond, if a pressure transducer needs to be removed to keep it from freezing.
- A diversion that is not going to be used for up to 4 years, if it is blocked off with an iron plate or concrete plug.
- Hydro plant, using power converted to flow
- Ponds that have no gated outlets, and are not filled or drained by human action. These can only spill over uncontrolled spillway.
- Ponds that have been in place for decades. They are part of the landscape, necessary for cattle and other ranching, and criticial for wildlife, waterfowl, and perhaps fish.
- Ponds that are strictly for dry-land farming. If there are no diversions on a ranch, the ponds are all there is.
- Ponds that have a low total amount of storage for the size of a ranch. For example, 6 ponds totaling 110 acre-feet for a 2,500-acre ranch. The ponds are only used for stock and/or wildlife water and no irrigation.
- A pond larger than 100 acre-feet, which has a creek running through it that never dries, and no water is diverted from the pond, so it is always full. Collecting data would provide zero new information – zero benefit, so any measurement cost is infinite relative to the cost.
Request For Additional Time
- Up to 24 months
- Need good reasons
- Easy to file
Request For Additional Time – Reasons I have used:
- The Water Board did not get the word out well, especially if my client never got a letter from the Board.
- A parent who ran the ranch passed away.
- 2016 was an extremely wet winter and spring, making access difficult until June, July, or later.
- By mid-season, farmers and ranchers are in the middle of long days, leaving no time to put in a measurement device.
- My client is investigating water efficiency, possibly an NRCS EQIP grant, and this would change the plan for a measurement device.