Author: AllWaterRights - Rights To Water Engineering, Inc.

Solving Diverters' Headaches To Provide Peace Of Mind And Help Stay Out Of Trouble. Helping California residents understand, define, and protect their water rights since 2005.

Converting water logger pressures to depths to storage or flows

How are water pressure logger measurements converted to diverted flows or reservoir storage?  Why does anyone even have to have an electronic pressure logger?  PMC, Onset Computer, In-Situ, , and other manufacturers sell data loggers and water level loggers, not pressure loggers, so why is this post talking about measuring pressures at all?

Most “loggers” record pressure, because that is the easiest physical attribute to measure.  A data logger in water does not know how deep it is, and it does not know how much flow is going by, or how much water is being stored in a

 

reservoir.  Pressures relate directly to static (standing) water depths, and then equations convert the depths to flows, or to reservoir storage volumes.

 

How is pressure converted to depth?  It’s an easy calculation – water that is one foot deep has a pressure of 0.4335 psi at the bottom.  So, if your logger measures 7.00 psi, then the calculation to get depth is 7.00 psi / 0.4335 psi per foot = 16.15 feet of depth.

Now that you can calculate any depth, how do you convert depths to reservoir storage?  That requires an Area-Capacity curve, also known as an Elevation-Storage curve.  The points can be picked off the curve.  For example, in the curve below, a depth of 8.5 feet would correspond to an elevation of 2,802.5 feet, and a reservoir storage volume of 30 acre-feet.

An owner of a reservoir with a capacity over 10 acre-feet must collect monthly storage values.  That’s easily done by hand.  However, a reservoir with a capacity of 50 AF requires weekly measurement; over 200 AF requires daily measurement; and over 1,000 AF requires hourly measurement.  That is really tedious to do by hand.

This is where an Excel spreadsheet can make the task a whole lot easier!  The spreadsheets shown below are just for this.  The first sheet helps translate a graph into a table of elevations and storage volumes.  The second sheet translates collected pressure values into depth and storage values, for as many data points as needed.

How are pressures converted to flows?  The logger is in a stilling well, usually a pipe connected to the inside or outside wall of the weir, flume, or orifice.  It measures pressure, which is easily converted to depths.

As with reservoirs, Excel spreadsheets make the conversion process a whole lot easier.  The sheets below have the rating curve for a suppressed weir, and the second sheet converts pressure to actual water depths over the weir boards.  Even for thousands of hourly readings, the hourly flow volumes are quickly calculated and are ready to send to the Water Board: 

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How Do I Measure And Report My Reservoir?

I have talked to a few hundred people about reservoirs over the last year.  How is a reservoir different from a pond?  What size has to be measured?  If you have a reservoir, how do you measure it?  Can a 15 acre-foot pond be measured the same way as a 1,500 acre-foot reservoir?  I have been estimating the storage for years, can’t I just keep doing that?

A reservoir is man-made, and may or may not have a pipe outlet.  “Pond” is a more general term and does not signify whether the body of water is natural or man-made.  Reservoirs include everything from less than 1 acre-foot stock ponds with a dam a few feet high, to Shasta Reservoir (Lake Shasta).

Every reservoir over 10 acre-feet has to have its storage volume measured monthly or more often, up to hourly for 1,000 acre-foot and larger reservoirs.  How is that done?  We’ll get to that in a few paragraphs.  Here is the table from the Water Board that specifies diversion amounts, storage amounts, compliance deadlines, accuracy, monitoring frequency, and who can do the work.  Personal gripe:  Hey, Water Board web design folks, your web pages are dang hard to see for folks that are over 50!  I had to modify the screenshot just so folks can see the rows and columns.

NOTE:  if you take the new class that the U.C. is putting together, you can install and certify your own measurement device(s)!

How can you comply, and what has to be done?  There are thousands, or tens of thousands of ways considering every permutation of each option, but I am going to list the four main ones that I use, from cheapest to most expensive:

  1. Alternative Compliance Plan – This is doing something besides standard compliance and still coming up with accurate-enough storage values at the
    Pond – photo credit: publicdomainfiles.com

    necessary frequency.  Within an ACP are thousands of possibilities, but the simplest case is a 10 acre-foot reservoir 3 driving hours away from the ranch house or first gate, not accessible in the winter.  An ACP for this often boils down to this: it is a landscape feature, no action of man is needed to fill or drain it, livestock and wildlife rely on it, it takes most of a day to get there and back, and a data collector is likely to get stomped on if cattle or elk can ever get to it.  This is the “I’m just going to keep estimating it and that meets everyone’s needs” option, and I think it is valid in a fair number of cases.  Just see some of the ACPs I have filed.  An ACP is harder to justify at the large end of reservoirs, but it might include things like occasional drone flights, using CIMIS data for evaporation, perhaps only measuring the outlet some distance downstream of the reservoir while estimating storage, and so on.

  2. Run a tape measure or long plastic tape from the edge of the dam road, down to the water’s edge, once a month or whatever the necessary frequency is.  This requires getting the inspection report, or at least the area-capacity curve from the Water Board.  You need two pieces of information: the slope of the water-side dam surface, and the storage volume at a few intervals of depth.  Most small reservoirs that I have seen have a water-side dam slope of 3 feet horizontally to 1 foot vertically.  Area-capacity curves can vary, and in the rare case where the Water Board or the Division of Safety of Dams does not have a curve, you’ll need to do a survey of some depths to generate contours and make the curve.
  3. Install staff gages.  This involves driving or setting lengths of 2″ galvanized pipe that overlap vertically with the next pipe up-slope or down-slope.  Then 2″ x 6″ lumber and 3′ or longer gages are bolted to the pipe, using a survey level to make sure the 5-foot mark, for example, at the top of one gage matches the 5′ mark at the bottom of the next-higher gage.  This can cost a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, depending on how much work you do vs. hiring work out, access, depth of the reservoir, and so on.  Oregon Rule is one good company to get the staff gages.
  4. Install water level loggers to collect pressure data, and convert the data to depths, then to elevations, and then to storage volumes, after the data is downloaded.  This is standard compliance.  What if you don’t have power lines to the dam?  There are many data loggers that run on batteries, for times of 2 years up to 12 years.  I mostly use the Onset Hobo and PMC Versaline water level loggers.  Hobos are put in protective, short PVC lengths, with a moderate weight, a rope, and buoy, and then setting them at the deepest part of the reservoir using a boat.  Data is downloaded by boating out, hauling up the Hobo, and putting it back in the same place.  This is easy if a heavy weight is attached by a second rope to the same or a different buoy to keep the location constant.  The PMC Versaline keeps the data collector on shore, with a cable to the water level logger.  It is installed in whatever length of PVC pipe is needed to get from the dam at a point above where any water gets, down to the logger end.  Then, no boat is needed to download data.  Which option is better?  See some of my earlier posts on the specifics of water level loggers.

Those are brief explanations, but you can find the detail in earlier posts on my blog, and some other blogs.  Does this help you?  Please let me know, whether yes, no or maybe!

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[Update/Repost] Do Something Wrong, Instead Of Nothing!

Do something wrong, rather than nothing at all. Have you ever heard that before? I have heard it from Army veteran friends, a boss, even an elder of a church.

What it means to you and me is, if action is necessary, do something, maybe ANYthing, rather than freezing in place or ignoring a problem. This is obvious when you see a tornado 5 miles away, for example; either drive away from it if you are in a car, or take shelter if you are on foot. If you have a plumbing leak in the house and no parts to replace broken pipe, then put a bucket under it, or turn off the valve, and call a plumber. All of us have seen a TV show (or maybe had it happen to us) where a bad guy or an enemy pointed a rifle and said, “Don’t move.”. What do we all say to the TV? “Don’t just stand there, run!”. Doing nothing is a much worse choice!

Man working in ditch CostaDisc2-129 - EditedWhat about water rights – how does doing something wrong help? Everyone knows by now that surface water diverters need measurement devices, so put in a weir box and boards and try to measure flow if the Water Board, your watermaster, or your neighbor is promising painful consequences. Even stick boards in a ditch and seal the sides with gravel – something to take positive action to reduce future pain.

Take a look at the blog posts here.  There is enough information and how-to directions, that you might be able to do it right!  Check out these posts:

There is a philosophy based in law and a lot of experience, that says don’t put any controls on yourself until the court or government makes you. Why remodel your house to accommodate the wiring or plumbing, if you aren’t selling the house and everything works okay? Who would put a lot of money into an old truck to make it pass smog, if it just might pass a smog check the next time it has to be done? What farmer would change how he irrigates or ranches if everything still operates and the bank will keep making operating loans?

Surface water and groundwater are getting 10 50 times the attention they were prior to 2009. If the Water Board, or California Fish and Wildlife, or any other agency comes along, do something, anything, to comply sooner, even if it’s not the ultimate solution. Two posts ago, bureaucrats were discussed – they are still human beings and most people appreciate some effort to “get with the program”.

Be proactive, take some inexpensive action, educate yourself for free with some time in the Internet. Even a small, less-than-perfect improvement in your measurement device, flow and water use record keeping, diversion practices, or acreening, can pay back a lot more when you have to deal with agencies, a court, or an angry neighbor in the future.

Why Aren’t There More Posts On Installed Devices?

When you look through the blog

Suppressed Weir From Side

 

posts here, you might wonder, why aren’t there more posts on installed devices?  I have installed a bunch of flow measurement and reservoir/pond storage measurement devices, as well as filing required forms with the Water Board.

However, nearly all the work 

has been done on private property.  Even if it were not, I consider your water rights activities  confidential.  Water rights disagreements can be unpleasant and expensive, and I don’t want to add any fuel to fires.

 

 

Would you like your diversion or measurement device featured here?  Let me know!

 

 

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You Can Be Your Own Qualified Individual For Diversions! AB 589 Passed October 4 – Training Coming Soon

Good news for folks who want to install, certify, measure and maintain their own devices!  AB 589 passed on October 4, and now any landowner, or their lessee or employee, can take the class and do all the required stuff to measure and record his own diversion flows / volumes.

I have not heard what the class dates might be, or whether it is online, and so on.  As soon as I do, I will sure put the word out there.  Meanwhile, let’s hope for another wetter-than-average winter – abundant water solves most of the demand issues.

 

Assembly Bill No. 589

CHAPTER 471

An act to add and repeal Section 1841.5 to, the Water Code, relating to water rights.

[ Approved by Governor  October 04, 2017. Filed with Secretary of State  October 04, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 589, Bigelow. Water diversion: monitoring and reporting: University of California Cooperative Extension.

Existing law requires a person who diverts 10 acre-feet of water or more per year under a permit or license to install and maintain a device or employ a method capable of measuring the rate of direct diversion, rate of collection to storage, and rate of withdrawal or release from storage, as specified and with certain exceptions. Existing law requires the measurements to be made using the best available technologies and best professional practices using a device or methods satisfactory to the State Water Resources Control Board. Existing law requires a permittee or licensee to demonstrate to the board at 5-year intervals that a measuring device is functioning properly, as specified.

Existing law authorizes the board to adopt regulations requiring measurement and reporting of water diversion and use by persons including, but not limited to, those authorized to appropriate water under a permit, license, or registration for small irrigation use or livestock stockpond use, or a certification for livestock stockpond use.

This bill, until January 1, 2023, would require any diverter, as defined, who has completed an instructional course regarding the devices or measurement method administered by the University of California Cooperative Extension, including passage of a proficiency test before the completion of the course, to be considered a qualified individual when installing and maintaining devices or implementing methods of measurement that were taught in the course for the diverter’s diversion. The bill would require the University of California Cooperative Extension and the board to develop the curriculum of the course and the proficiency test.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal Committee: yes   Local Program: no

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1.

Section 1841.5 is added to the Water Code, to read:

1841.5.

(a) For the purposes of a device installed pursuant to Section 1840 or 1841 or a method of measurement proposed and adopted pursuant to Section 934 or 935 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations, any diverter who has completed an instructional course regarding the devices or measurement method included in the course administered by the University of California Cooperative Extension, including passage of a proficiency test before the completion of the course, shall be considered a qualified individual when installing and maintaining devices or implementing methods of measurement that were taught in the course for the diverter’s diversion. The proficiency test shall seek to certify that the diverter has a satisfactory understanding of the principles of measurement and the use of a measurement method included in the course or the installation of a device. The University of California Cooperative Extension and the board shall develop the curriculum of the course and the proficiency test. The University of California Cooperative Extension and the board shall ensure the course curriculum and the proficiency test do not conflict with any state licensing acts.

(b) For purposes of this section, “diverter” means an individual authorized to divert water under a valid water right, a lessee of property that is subject to a water right who is acting as a representative of the water right holder, or a bona fide employee of the water right holder or lessee.

(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2023, deletes or extends that date.

Alternative Compliance Plans – First Batch Is Online

Many people have asked about Alternative Compliance Plans filed with the Water Board.  Have any been approved?  Do I have any feedback regarding the ones I filed?  What will work, and what won’t?

In short, I have heard nothing from the Water Board, so I have no answers.  However, the Water Board has started posting them online.  See the screenshot below – I erased the water right holders’ names, you can see them and download them at the web page.

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Ouch: All “High Hazard” Reservoirs Under DSOD Require Emergency Action Plans

As if SB 88 wasn’t enough, now farmers and ranchers with reservoirs under jurisdiction of the Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD), and who somehow got a “high” hazard classification, must now have an Emergency Action Plan.  Why, or rather, why now?  The biggest immediate reason is the failure of Oroville Dam Spillway, run by the same Department of Water Resources of which DSOD is a part.  Some legislators with good intent are using an unjust method of making an entire group do it, all at once, regardless of impact.  Other, more cynical folks want to get the spotlight off California / DWR / State Water Contractors.

These reservoirs have been actively inspected by good DSOD inspectors, who require maintenance, repairs, and even replacements as needed.  Owners have acted responsibly, or else they didn’t get to fill their reservoirs again…unlike DWR.

Today there are only 16 months to comply.  Are there even enough engineers to get this all done in time?  This will require engineering in the several thousands of dollars, or more likely tens of thousands, for each reservoir.  Is there any funding available for farms and ranches with minimal cash flow?

What is your best plan of action?

  • Appeal to your state legislator and state senator.  Ask for more time to comply, and a clear avenue to apply for an exemption.
  • Ask Bill Pennington or Russell Bowlus, how did your reservoir get a “high” hazard classification?  Request an answer in writing.
  • Get a cost estimate from an engineer.  This will likely support your appeal for more time to comply.
  • Ask the Farm Bureau, California Cattlemen’s Association, and California Cattlewomen for help.
  • Seek the help of the Pacific Legal Foundation, since there are likely to be lawsuits, if there is not one already.
  • Ask, how can you do this work yourself?  It is not magic, although it likely has to be done by an engineer.  Has someone made a Google Earth or other application with which you can do your own map?
  • Make some progress, even if you cannot afford the time and/or money to get it all done.  Some is better than none when the state comes around.

As I find out more, I will sure post the information here.  More to come on this.

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Water Board Letters, Reducing Or Denying Additional Time / Alt. Comply Plans Being Reviewed

Many diverters or pond owners are getting letters like the one shown below, reducing or denying a Request For Additional Time.  The letter looks threatening, because that is how letters from regulatory agencies (bureaucracies) have to look.  Keep in mind that the Water Board won’t start issuing fines the day after the deadline.  Usually what happens next is a 30-day letter to cease and desist, or correct a deficiency, or face fines of $500 per day.

What should you do?

On August 10, 2017, I sent Kathy an email asking about Alternative Compliance Plans for diversions in closed basins:

“Hi Kathy,

I have a client whose water rights are all in one closed basin.  This owner owns all the lands where the water flows, either naturally, or when diverted from streams.  The end effect is, whether the diverter actually diverts or not, all the water ends up only on his land.

There are reservoirs involved.  The water rights could be in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 AF.

The argument is, since nobody else is or could be affected, there is no benefit to the State of measuring this water.

What are your thoughts on Alternative Compliance Plan for every water right on the ranch?  Would the Water Board put this on the bottom of the pile for places to look at, or toward the top?

Thank you,

Shawn”

Kathy’s answer was:

“Hi Shawn –

The measurement regulation does not have an exception from measurement based on location of the water source.  Any alternative compliance plan would need to identify the proposed measurement frequency and proposed measurement methodology.  It would also need to include an explanation and substantiating documentation of alternative compliance.  Absent substantiation of the specific basis for reduced performance standards, the plan must state how compliance with the measurement regulation will be achieved.  You ask for my thoughts on submitting an alternative compliance plan for each of the ranch water rights.  You should only submit plans which satisfy the regulatory standards. 

You ask whether the Division would put this on the bottom of the pile of items to look at.  Jeff and I have been actively looking at the alternative compliance plans submitted thus far.  We coordinate our actions with Lily.  We are actively evaluating the plans because we feel an obligation to let people know how they have done with their proposals. 

Kathy Mrowka”

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Watchman Flumes, Tough And Accurate

This summer has been busy!  Posts here have fallen behind as I have been keeping up with clients’ needs for SB 88 compliance.

I am taking just a moment to mention the new Watchman Flumes.  A new manufacturer is making these heavy-duty flumes tough enough that cattle could step on one or rub against it and probably not bend it.

10-gauge steel is used, slightly thicker than 1/8″.  The walls and ramps are heavily reinforced with 1/8″ angle-iron and high-strength Grade 8 bolts to minimize flexing and bending.  Back-filling these flumes will not bend the walls or wingwalls, even when using concrete for fill.

Watchman Flumes are delivered disassembled with all the fasteners.  At this time the manufacturer is only selling through Rights To Water Engineering, but that may change in the future.

Sizes range from 2 to 60 cubic feet per second.  The flumes are accurate to better than +/- 5%, which is well within the Water Board’s requirement of +/- 10% for new measurement devices.

These are priced competitively with pre-manufactured flumes for similar flows, too.  That makes higher durability and longer life at the same price as flumes made from 1/16″ sheet metal.

Expect to see more of these going in at diversions around Northern and Central California.  I will post photos of installations as I get permission from landowners.

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Unique Weir Installation

I am glad to be getting measuring devices and data loggers installed – it is enjoyable work and diverters are getting peace of mind.  All of my work is confidential so clients’ names won’t be mentioned without permission.  That being said, a few projects can be discussed here.

This is a unique weir installation – it is doing two things at once.  Two 4′ wide weirs are side by side, set on a leveled, compacted base of 3/4″ minus road base.

First, it has a splitter built in as part of the weir – see the low wall behind me.  Two water rights are precisely split inside the weir itself so each user gets the correct amount.

Second, it is a double weir.  The ditch has low banks, but around 10 cfs needs to be accurately measured.  Weirs ideally pass a maximum of 1 cfs per foot of width, so this exceeds that by 25%, while still keeping the water inside the ditch.  So, why use weirs instead of a flume, which can pass much more flow per foot of width?  Weirs are better understood in this area, the ditch has adequate width, and it makes splitting the flows easier.

A plate metal wall splits the 2 weirs into 3.  Board slots were added with angle iron…you can guess from the photo that the iron lengths had to be cut down a bit for a 1-board, 2″ x 12″ weir.

 

 

Board slots had to be bolted on both sides of the plate steel.  My friend Bob, owner of B & J Welding & Machine, Inc. in Anderson, cut, welded and drilled the plate steel wall.

A water level logger sits at the back of the shared weir walls, and records hourly water levels 24 x 7 x 365.  Vandalism is a concern so the logger is locked up, and only the owner and I can get in.

1/4″ thick plate metal wingwalls upstream and downstream protect against flow working its way around the sides.  The wingwalls add stability, keeping the weirs from tipping sideways or tilting up- or downstream.

The final result is s solid, long-lasting installation that meets the requirements of SB 88!

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