You have to measure your surface water diversion, or elevation changes and outflows from your reservoir. Data processing, checking, correction, and summarizing requires a Data-Head who has experience dealing with this kind of data.
This episode is also available as a blog post: http://allwaterrights.com/2021/04/01/flow-volume-data-and-data-heads/
SB 88 requires diverters to measure diverted water flow and/or volume, then report the measurements. For small to medium-sized diversions and reservoirs, there is a often transducer measuring and recording pressure. The pressure data has to be converted to depth and flow, or depth and volume. Data may be hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. Whatever the frequency, the Water Board want
s data files uploaded with annual Reports and Supplemental Statements.
Where’s the manual for how to do this, for any of several data loggers, and for meters, weirs, flumes, and orifices, and flumes? It exists in pieces and parts. Each data logger manufacturer has a manual for each product. Sometimes products are similar, and sometimes very different, as are the manuals. The long-existing measuring devices, weirs, flumes, and orifices, are described and general measurement instructions listed in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Water Measurement Manual.
When it comes right down to it, a person has to be a “data-head” to enjoy collecting the data, and going through all of it to find bad results, missing data, and odd trends. Then stage and flow have to be calculated and checked against periodic readings taken during visits to the reservoir or stream. Data have to be listed in a format to upload with the Report or Supplemental Statement to the Water Board, and summed monthly to fill out the online form.
If you enjoy educating yourself and taking on new tasks, then you can be a data-head. If not, then you’ll need to have an employee do it, or more likely hire an expert.
Who are the experts? There are engineering firms, manufacturers, vendors and others who can download data for you. It still comes down to the person helping you That person who does the work has to have done data reduction, calculations, checking, and quality control in the past.
Make sure you get help from someone who knows data inside and out! If the Water Board has any questions, your data-head can explain and defend every bit of it for you. He or she will already know the answers to any questions that come up.
Farmers and ranchers don’t spend much energy “implementing social distancing”. For many folks, they do that already in their daily work. However, I have a few clients that have to be really careful not to get sick – no shaking hands, keep a dirt road width between us.
That brings up a question: do I always have to visit your place to see your diversion or reservoir the first time? Not necessarily. If I can see some live or recorded video, and some photos, that may be enough to advise you on what needs to be done, and a rough idea of what the options and costs are. Especially if you are doing part or all of your installation, remote advice may meet your needs.
Do you have a smart phone? That can take all the field videos and photos, and photos of necessary documents, too.
So, call and tell me what we’re looking at, and let’s try the video and photo option, especially if you are trying not to get sick! If that just won’t work, then I’ll need to come out anyway, but I’ll have more information from what I have seen already.
Have you ever used an old-style complaint box? It made us feel better to write out a grievance, and then put it in the special box for that purpose. Often, there would be no response, so nobody knew if the complaint was read, or ignored, or some action taken but not communicated.
Now we air criticisms and accusations with much greater speed and efficiency. It’s called Email, generally directed to one or a few poeple, or the very public Twitter, FaceBook, Yelp, Foursquare, or 500 other online venues. This often isn’t better but it does get results! A thousand “Yeah me too”s, ten thousand “You’re an idiot”s, and a hundred thousand ugly troll comments. Have you successfully complained online and had a positive result? You’re in a small minority.
What if another water diverter on your ditch is taking all the water, or someone files a right for the water you have lawfully used for years, or the new neighbor bullies you and 4 others into not taking your water because he says he’ll file a lawsuit? Fortunately the Water Board has a way to complain about water rights. If you Google “Water Board Complaints”, the following page is usually the first result you’ll get:
Now what? You need to click the “CalEPAEnvironmental Complaint website” link, and then you’ll see the page to the right:
Click on the “Water” radio button, and click “Complaint Details at the bottom of the page.
This will take you to a series of web pages, shown here as the very long page shown on the left. The pages prompt for information, so enter all the details entered. What if you don’t know something? Put in the best information you have and move on to the next section.
What if you don’t want anyone to know who complained? You can file it anonymously. However, you can imagine that putting your John Henry on there would get a better response from the Water Board folks.
Once you do that, and hit “Submit”, you’re done. A web page will pop up with some information, and you’ll get a confirmation email:
Wonderful, your complaint is in the system! How long will it take for you to get a call or an email from someone at the Water Board? If your protest is about a large water right, in the Central Valley, and is well-documented, you may hear back in a month or two. What if your water right is small, you’re in Del Norte County, and you don’t have all the details? Well…it might be many months, and possibly never. Keep in mind, most Water Board staff have five times the workload than any of them can possibly do. Supervisors and staff have to pick and choose what they can work on that might result in an action, and which will have support from their supervisor or manager.
How can you best ensure that your complaint is addressed, and you get contacted by Water Board personnel? Document, document, document. Get right to the point of what you want the State employee to do. Speak bureaucrat. That’s a language similar to English, but which is much better understood by a state employee than standard English. I know, because I had to speak bureaucrat for 30 years! Now I speak bureaucrat to help solve diverters’ headaches to provide peace of mind, and help stay out of trouble.
What if you have a small diversion, but grass or debris would interfere with a standard weir? A weir has to have unobstructed, free-flowing water over
the crest so measured depths accurately relate to a calculated flow. A weir with debris problems has to be cleared whenever flow is measured, which increases the time requirement.
When weirs have low flows, they trap debris more frequently, and they are less accurate when the depth over the crest drops below 0.2 feet (2.4 inches). Then the only way to measure flow is with a narrow suppressed weir, or with a contracted weir, typically half or less the maximum width. A V-notch weir can be used for measurement of low flows.
Changing the weir boards for different flows requires someone with experience,
who will recognize when the depth over the weir is 0.2 feet or less and then use a contracted weir board. However, people are busy when irrigating, and even busier when flows drop. Weirs are often neglected during the time they need more frequent maintenance visits.
A good flume for passing debris and measuring low flows is the HS flume. These are accurate right down to zero flow. For the maximum flow, they require more
material than a rectangular Winflume, Montana, or Parshall flume. However, they are more accurate than other flumes at very low flows – testing by the University of Minnesota found an average accuracy to be +/- 3.2% for ideal approach conditions. They will pass debris down to zero flow – the flume shown here has an opening of 0.05 feet, or 5/8 inch at the flat bottom, and the opening increases with height.
Why aren’t HS flumes common in California? I suspect that the early adoption of Parshall flumes here established the standard. I have seen a few hundred flumes, but I had never seen an operating HL (wide, high flow), H, or HS flume, prior to my installations.
Why go to the trouble of using an HS flume, if Parshall flumes are readily
available? A Parshall flume may be +/- 10% accurate down to perhaps 5% of its maximum flow. Below that, the accuracy decreases. An HS flume is +/- 10% accurate down to 1% to 2% of its maximum flow. If the flow regime is predominantly low with occasional high flows, it is important to measure those low flows with the best possible accuracy. Some places where low flow measurement is critical include field runoff where pollution is proportional to flow, small water rights, and dam leakage.
HS flumes are easier to construct than a Parshall, too. The HS flume bottom is flat, and it has 3 vertical planes. The photos of the Parshall flume here show
that it has 3 horizontal planes, and 5 vertical planes. An HS flume takes less time to build, and can be put together fairly quickly in any farm or ranch shop. Parshalls are complex enough that they are purchased, including design and shipping costs.
Do you always have to have a purchased flow meter and data recorder for a pipeline? No you don’t. If you pump your flow, you can probably use a certified pump efficiency curve and your online 15-minute or hourly power records.
Call a pump shop that will produce a certified pump efficiency curve for you. The curve itself will cost $300 to $700, and there may be up to $1,000 in setup work to install gage access ports or create acoustic meter mounting points. The resultant curve will have a certified accuracy, in the range of +/- 2-3%, plus an accuracy range for changing pumping levels or variable pump flow rates. The ratings will be +/- 10% or better, and so satisfy the Water Board regulations.
Graphics credit: West Virginia University
The person doing the work can provide you a spreadsheet so you can paste in your power records and get hourly flow rates. The certification will be good for at least a couple of years, and when it is redone for you, will cost in the $300 to $700 range.
These costs look pretty good compared to a meter that will cost $1,500 to $4,000, and has to be recalibrated and maintained every couple of years. Another big benefit is that the pump curve lets your pump shop know what to recommend for you to get the most efficiency, and spend less money for your power!
Will this method work for groundwater as well as surface water pumps? Yes it will. SGMA requirements include well metering for a whole bunch of pumps, so this can be of use to you no matter how you pump your water.
Who should you call? See http://www.pumpefficiency.org/pump-testing/pump-testers/
One real expert is Bill Power:
Power Services, Inc.
6301 Beardon Lane
Modesto, CA 95357
209.527.2908 (Voice)
209.527.2921 (Fax)
Contact – Bill Power
Do you have a riparian water right? If your property borders or crosses 
a natural stream, then you probably do. If you are unsure, then read the best explanation I have seen, in plain language, in this short document:
What can destroy your riparian water right?
How can y
ou protect your riparian water right?
Know the law – print out Chuck’s explanation and read it every few years.
Put it in your property deed. How should that be done?
If you have a parcel that was severed in the past, but that parcel has used the
same diversion point continuously from the time before the subdivision, state in your deed that the intent at the time of the subdivision was to retain riparian water rights for your parcel, and that you have continued to divert under riparian right of claim, and that you do have a riparian water right.
What do you do if your water right has never been recorded with the State Water Resources Control Board? Or, if your property was split from a larger farm or ranch, and you are handling your smaller water right on your own? After all, every water right has to be filed with the Water Board, except most of those that are uniquely listed in Superior Court Decrees. This is true regardless of whether the water right is riparian or appropriative (pre- or post-1914).
You’ll need to file an Initial Statement. These are 4 pages unless cannabis is grown with the water right – that adds page 5. The forms are downloadable, fillable PDFs. If you have your information together and you are handy
with Google Earth, you might have your form done in a few hours. As with any property description, the better it can be explained, the easier it is to defend your water right if someone has a complaint.
With the Water Board, it’s better if you file before the Water Board comes looking for you. I have not seen folks get fines for filing even when water rights have been used for 50 years, or 100, or even since 1850 (or earlier). The Water Board folks are good to work with and they would much rather that people become compliant with the law, than write nasty letters and issue fines. That may not always be true as regulations get tougher, so get your filing done soon!
How is an Initial Statement different from filing a Water Right Application? An Initial Statement is filed if the water right is already in use. The Water Board is careful to point out that an Initial Statement is not the basis of, nor is it proof for a water right. It is just the way to report if diversion or storage has taken place for some time.
What if your storage or diversion began after 1914, since that is when the Water Board was created and when its authority began? Except for riparian rights, this is a gray area. I think the official answer from most folks at the Water Board is that appropriative water rights after 1914 are only established by a water right application, obtaining a Permit, and hopefully perfecting that Permit into a License.
In reality, there have been many Initial Statements filed for post-1914 water rights. It seems that these stand if there isn’t already a complaint against the filer, and if the water right is not in an already over-appropriated stream where there are obviously more water rights than water. The presence of chinook salmon or steelhead trout might put a post-1914 Initial Statement in question, too.
The problem with filing a Water Right Application is that you have no idea what the outcome may be. It might be denied, or have restrictive conditions imposed, and you won’t know until you have spent some thousands of dollars. Even if your water right is senior to some rights that were filed decades ago, the outcome is unknown. Also, the Water Board folks are extremely busy, and some applications are never completed.
So, many folks take the safe action to protect their water right and comply with the law: they file an Initial Statement. Better to do something not exactly right, or even wrong, than nothing at all.
Have you filed your Report Of Licensee, Progress Report of Permittee, or Report of Stockpond on the Water Board’s web site? 43% of folks have not, according to an email from the Water Board a few minutes ago:
“ANNUAL WATER USE REPORTING FOR 2018
This is a reminder notification for permits, licenses and registrations to file your 2018 Annual Water Diversion report which was due on April 1, 2019. To date, only 57% of appropriative rights have filed on time. …”
What to do? File right away! Call me at (530) 526-0134 (calls are free).
Remember the adage of “Do something wrong instead of nothing right“? It really applies here – folks who get their reports in this week are highly unlikely to see any fines. You can amend your report any time…people are still amending some 2008 reports (11 years later)!
Filing in May, maybe yes, maybe no fines. By July 1, if not a little sooner, the Water Board will have a list of everyone who is going to get fined no matter what, and it’s just a matter of fighting it or paying the lower settlement amount.
Is it not having your storage or flow data ready to file your worry? There are a 
lot of engineering companies, including mine, that can help you get that done quickly. Processing data can be a big pain, as it was for me over the last few weeks with 50 reports to file. So talk to someone who does it all the time and stop your headaches, get some peace of mind.
Whatever you do, file something now! Fix it later, get help with amendments, call an engineer for help with the data. Incomplete action now is a lot less expensive than $500/day, $15,000/month.
I forgot to mention in my last post on SB 88 compliance, https://allwaterrights.com/2019/02/27/hiding-from-the-water-board-dont-worry-get-compliant/, that you’re still okay if you comply with SB 88 now. The Water Board is not issuing Cease And Desist Orders (CDO) or fines for folks who catch up now, even though it’s late. This
is true whether you have yet to install a measurement device, a data logger/recorder, or catch up your Reports Of Licensee or Supplemental Statements. I have seen no adverse action for anyone I know, or clients of other consultants. There are a couple of exceptions here:
I don’t know what may happen in, say, 2020, for folks who have no data for 2018. 
The same logic applies: get a data logger in and collecting data as soon as possible, and there might be no hassles even for missing data.
Start with a Request For Additional Time. This is quick to fill out and buys you some instant grace. Also, if you had extenuating circumstances like the Carr, Camp, or Mendocino Complex Fires, or other disasters, send an email to Jeff Yeazell, the Water Board’s Public Contact official outside of the Delta. Jeff is very nice, and he is careful to respond back and to keep the emails he gets.
As always, explain in the Remarks and/or other text sections of your Reports Of Licensee or Supplemental Statements anything that helps explain your late compliance, and anything that shows even partial compliance.
And the best news right now is that the drought is over!
