Do something wrong, rather than nothing at all. Have you ever heard that before? I have heard it from Army veterans, a boss, even an elder of a church. George Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” A non-military way to say that is, “A poor plan now is better than no plan at all.”
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 the bad guy 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, if the result for freezing in place is death or injury.
What 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 measure your flow before the threats come from the Water Board, your watermaster, your ditch tender, or your neighbor. Even just stick horizontal boards in a ditch and seal the sides with plastic – something to take positive action to reduce future pain.
Remember to file the information for the measurement device with the Water Board, either via your annual report of diversions, or using the Water Right Form and Survey Submittal Portal.
Take a look at the blog posts below. There is enough information and how-to directions, that you should be able to do it well enough to satisfy the Water Board. 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
Temporary Weir In Ditch
you. Why remodel your house to accommodate the wiring or plumbing, if you aren’t selling the house and everything works okay right now? 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?
All of the Water Board deadlines have passed to install measurement devices, or file Alternative Compliance Plans. If you haven’t got your device or plan done yet, get a Request For Additional Time done as soon as possible.
Be proactive. Take some inexpensive, temporary 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, can pay back a lot more when you have to deal with potential Water Board fines, a court case, or even just an angry neighbor in the future.
Do something wrong, rather than nothing at all. Have you ever heard that before? I have heard it from Army veterans, a boss, even an elder of a church. George Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” A non-military way to say that is, “A poor plan now is better than no plan at all.”
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 the bad guy 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, if the result for freezing in place is death or injury.
Ready-to-install 3-inch Montana Cutthroat Flume
What 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 measure your flow before the threats come from the Water Board, your watermaster, your ditch tender, or your neighbor. Even just stick horizontal boards in a ditch and seal the sides with plastic – something to take positive action to reduce future pain.
Remember to file the information for the measurement device with the Water Board, either via your annual report of diversions, or using the Water Right Form and Survey Submittal Portal.
Take a look at the blog posts below. There is enough information and how-to directions, that you should be able to do it well enough to satisfy the Water Board. 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
Temporary Weir In Ditch
you. Why remodel your house to accommodate the wiring or plumbing, if you aren’t selling the house and everything works okay right now? 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?
All of the Water Board deadlines have passed to install measurement devices, or file Alternative Compliance Plans. If you haven’t got your device or plan done yet, get a Request For Additional Time done as soon as possible.
Be proactive. Take some inexpensive, temporary 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, can pay back a lot more when you have to deal with potential Water Board fines, a court case, or even just an angry neighbor in the future.
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!
What 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 1050times 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.
A question I often hear is, “Hey, I got this letter/a call from the State Water Resources Control Board. What am I supposed to do about measuring my flow?” The main number for the Water Board is (916) 341-5300 – and these folks have much more work to do than time to do it. Several calls may be required to reach a knowledgeable person who isn’t already talking to two telephone calls, or making three investigations in the field. So, start with the main contact, Paul Wells, who is very knowledgeable and can get you the answers or the person you need to talk to.
By the way, Thank You to Kathy Mrowka, who has been reasonable in working with diverters who are trying to comply. What she says often is true: talk with her and/or others at the Water Board and you’ll likely get consideration, some more time to comply, and reduced (maybe greatly reduced) fines.
Since many calls I get are about enforcement letters, calls, or visits from the Board, it’s probably most useful to have the phone numbers and emails from Enforcement Program Staff. Here they are, from the Water Rights Enforcement Program Web Page:
See the new “How Do I … ?” link on the left. There are so many posts on this blog, it is getting harder to find stuff. Click on the link, or right-click then “Open link in new tab”, and the big questions are linked to the appropriate blog posts.
What is the cheapest flow measurement device to install, that is durable, accurate, and easy to maintain? The California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) Red Bluff office wrote a memo in October of 2010, detailing findings on flow measurement devices over decades of watermaster service. Part of the memo is summarized here – not direct quotes:
Economics of Flow Measurement Devices
CDWR watermasters helped water right holders to install and operate a variety of structures over eight decades. Physical factors such as flow range, ditch width and slope, soil type, whether or not a site is protected from livestock, and access to the site, play a large role in picking the right device. Cost is also important, including design, installation, replacement, operation, maintenance and repair.
The following chart shows the relative costs that the watermaster service and water right holders have experienced for various devices. The chart shows that pre-built weirs are the least expensive to install and repair. Flumes are the least expensive to operate, but are the most expensive to design and construct or install.
Some considerations for the proper use of weirs are:
Always seal leaky flashboards with sediment, horse manure if available, and if necessary, sheet plastic. Use newer flashboards, replaced every year or two, and trim boards on site to ensure a level top board, and reduce gaps prior to use.
1.5 inch (2″ nominal lumber e.g. 2″ x 8″) flashboards are not measurably less accurate than a thin steel plate metal with sharp edges, provided that the head on the weir is great enough to cause separation of the water from the upstream edge of the flashboard. The air bubble on top of the board is easy to see when the weir is working right. The minimum required head is around 0.25 feet. As an example, CDWR watermasters compared the use of flashboards to
sharp-crested weirs on November 20, 2008, as they have done several times in the past. Differences were recorded and weirs with flashboards had flows that were both slightly less and slightly more than the flows calculated for sharp-crested weirs. Any difference is well below the margin of error when taking into account all possible errors. In summary, 1.5-inch flashboards provide results indistinguishable from sharp-crested weirs for the use of measuring diverted flows.
CDWR measures weir heads with weir sticks, as specified in the USBR Water
Measurement Manual, 3rd Edition, 2001, on Page 13-4. CDWR has checked the use of weir sticks numerous times and found the difference between the head measured with a weir stick and that at a staff gage nearly always to be 0.00 feet (the same to the hundredth of a foot).
Even when diverters are careful, the amount delivered may occasionally be somewhat more than the water right as streamflows vary due to diurnal fluctuation, changes in upstream diversions, and from increased flows due to storm events. However, more than half the time when flows are not at the legal amount, they are less than the water right amount for the following reasons:
Floating debris sometimes accumulates on the upstream side of a diversion headgate, reducing flow.
Water right holders who grow hay shut off their diversions to cut, dry, bale and haul hay for several days, reducing their total volume of diversion.
Irrigation season damage to ditches requires diversions to be reduced or stopped during repairs.
Weed growth or sediment in the ditch reduces the hydraulic capacity of ditches.
A local farmer, rancher, and apiarist, whose name you likely know, referred me to a pretty smart ranching friend of his who has been researching more cost effective flow measurement and data collection schemes. This retired aircraft engineer has found data collection devices with installed costs in the $500 – $600 range, instead of $1,200 up to $20,000. I’ll publish their names if they agree later; they should have a chance to read this before they put their names on it.
They aim to save themselves and all of you some of your hard-earned money. I really want to see what data collection setups are available, hopefully this week there will be an all-in-one system that meets State requirements and is not such a budget-buster. There are also be some pre-fabricated flow measurement devices that can be easily dropped in a flat ditch where a weir (the least expensive device) won’t work, saving money compared to a formed-up flume.
From my years at DWR, my coworkers and I dealt with the trade-off between high accuracy and durability, at a high cost, and reasonable accuracy and lower durability for less money. This was always the tension, whether acquiring surveying equipment, portable flow measurement devices, or flow gaging components like data collectors, bubbler pressure sensors, or GOES satellite radios.
In Part 2, How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? Part 2, we considered the question: Who has to have a certified, accurate device by January 1, 2017? How often is it monitored? The answer is, those who divert 1,000 acre-feet (AF) per year or more, and it has to be monitored hourly. What size diversion is this, really? An irrigation diversion of 1,000 AF over 6 months, with flows starting at 100% of the water right, declining to 50% of the right by the end of the season (month 6) would calculate out to a water right of 3.68 cubic feet per second (cfs), or about 3.7 to 4.0 cfs (cfs). Depending on where you are, that irrigates somewhere between 80 and 400 acres of hay or pasture.
In this post, I’ll answer 2 questions:
What if your water right is smaller than 3.7 cfs, diverting 100 AF to 1,000 AF per year?
A BIG question right now: What is “alternative compliance”, and how might it be done to meet the Water Board’s regulations?
To answer the first question, the next category down is 100 AF to 1,000 AF per year. Using the example of a 6-month irrigation season, with a diversion that starts at 100% of the water right and gradually declines to 50%, the water right we’re talking about is about 0.37 to 3.7 cfs. This category does not have to comply as quickly – the deadline is July 1, 2017, or nearly a year from now. The measurement frequency is daily, which is possible to be done by a diligent person, if not not recorded automatically. For a sense of how much water this is, depending on where you are, what the soils are like, and how efficient the diversion is, the acreage of hay or pasture irrigated ranges from about 8 to 370 acres.
What kind of measurement devices would meet the regulations? The same types that we discussed in Part 2, but ranging down to smaller sizes:
weirs as little as 0.5′ (0.5 feet, or 6″) wide, or wider with boards cut to make contracted weirs
free-flowing orifices with holes down to 0.16 x 0.16′ (2″ x 2″) square and a piece of steel plate to adjust it smaller
submerged orifices down to 0.25′ x 0.25′ (3″ x 3″) with an adjustment plate.
small flumes and meters
The photos above show smaller-sized devices than the 4′ weirs shown in earlier posts.
The second, and these days much BIGGER question, what about alternative compliance? The Water Board requires submission of alternative compliance plans on a form that is not yet available. If it were my diversion, I would not worry about that; I would put together my plan and send it in. The old rule applies that if you are not sure who to send it to, send it to several managers and maybe a Deputy Director. Emailing documents is cheaper; most computers will let you print to PDFs that can be emailed. Your submittal probably will not be accepted this way but the point is, the Water Board cannot say that you have not attempted to comply. Not complying at all can be very expensive; “Do something wrong, instead of nothing at all.”
What has to be in your alternative compliance plan? From the Water Board’s ADOPTED TEXT OF EMERGENCY REGULATION, the text gives 12 parts that must be in the plan (below). The plan may be rejected – having a plan (instead of a standard, certified measurement device) is no guarantee that the Board will accept it. In summary, the plan must detail contacts for all people on a ditch, Assessor Parcel Numbers, the water right(s), priority(ies), use(s), diversion(s), ditch(es) and/or pipe(s), measurement frequency and methods, dates for milestones and completion, permits required, financing plan, and map(s) showing the plan area including all physical features and place of use…and all of this must be signed by all water right holders on the ditch (the emphasized text in the bullet points is mine):
“………… §935 Alternative Compliance for a Measuring Device or Measurement Method Requirement.
(a) Alternative Compliance – Generally. In circumstances where strict compliance with sections 933 or 934 of this title is not feasible, would be unreasonably expensive, would unreasonably affect public trust uses, or would result in the waste or unreasonable use of water, a diverter may submit an alternative compliance plan.
(b) Minimum Standards – an alternative compliance plan under subdivision (a) shall meet the following minimum standards:
(1) The plan shall include the following information:
(A) The name and contact information for all diverters covered by the plan; (B) The name and contact information for the person designated to represent all diverters covered by the plan in matters before the board; (C) Identification of each individual water right type and priority covered by the plan; (D) A detailed description of the areaserved by the plan, including all points of diversion whether used or not used, all methods of diversion, any conveyance systems, all beneficial uses of water, and all acreage served; (E) The assessor’s parcel numbers and ownership within the area covered by the plan; (F) Identification of the proposed measurement frequency; (G) Identification of the proposed measurement methodology; (H) Topographic map(s) or aerial photograph(s) of the area covered by the plan that show the separate places of use authorized to be served by claimed water rights covered by the plan and showing the acreage served; (I) An implementation schedule, including date-specific, objective milestones of plan implementation from date of filing through final implementation, including the estimated milestones for acquiring permits required for plan implementation and the estimated milestones for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, if required; (J) Budget for implementation of the plan and the source(s) of financing for the plan; (K) A list of any permits required for plan implementation, the agencies that will issue the permits, and expected dates for issuance; (L) An affirmation, signed by all diverters covered by the plan, that the plan will be implemented in accordance with the schedule contained therein and that all claimed water rights covered by the plan will not be exercised outside the scope of the plan…………”
In Part 1, How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? , we looked at what water flow measurement devices will meet and exceed the Board’s requirements. The questions right back to me were: 1) Yeah, but which dates apply to me? and 2) Yeah, but what about monitoring and collecting data and reporting? How do I do that?
Who has to have a certified, accurate device by January 1, 2017? How often is it monitored?
This is the “worst case” if I am not already compliant – less than 6 months from today! The first to have to report are those who divert 1,000 acre-feet or more per year, or store 1,000 acre-feet or more per year. The reporting has to be hourly, or 8,760 data points per year. The average rate of diversion for 365 days is 1.38 cubic feet per second (cfs) (which I had rounded to 1.40 cfs in previous posts). That’s equal to 620 gallons per minute (gpm), or 2.74 AF/day.
What if all the flow is diverted just for the irrigation season? Let’s use 6 months for simplicity – the average rate of flow is 2.76 cfs. Available flows drop as the summer proceeds, so what size of water right are we really looking at? Let’s say flows decline evenly from 100% at the beginning, to 50% of available flows at the end of 6 months. The right that would divert 1,000 AF per year under these conditions is 3.68 cfs. The summary is, if my water right is, say, 4 cfs or more, then it is very likely I will be in this category. The weir shown above is a 4′ weir, capable of measuring up to 4 cfs very accurately, at plus or minus 5% (sometimes better) accuracy with new lumber. A headgate like the one to the left is easily capable of passing 4 cfs and, if the gate is used as a measurement orifice, the accuracy can be 5%, certainly within plus or minus 10% if care is used with an older gate.
I can get that 4′ weir shown above installed and working for somewhere between $2,000 and $10,000 – depending on how difficult the access is to the site, whether native materials can be used, or 3/4″ base rock and 12″ protective rock have to be hauled in, and whether I already have a backhoe or excavator to install it. The headgate will cost more than that, maybe $3,000 to $12,000. A larger bulkhead or box is required, and good gates can cost quite a bit.
A larger diversion will have to use a larger weir or orifice, or more likely a flume or acoustic measurement device. That makes sense – the larger the flow, the more complicated it is to measure.
How do I report hourly flows? I sure can’t run out to the diversion every hour, so that means I have to use some kind of automated flow measurement device. The G.E. Panametrics acoustic Doppler meter on the left is an option, and it or an in-line propeller meter, or an inline mag-meter, will be necessary for some configurations of diversions (pumped or very flat). The price starts at $5,000, though. If I have enough fall (drop in water elevation), I would sure rather put in a weir, orifice, or flume. A weir or flume can use a water level measurement device and data collector like the water level logger above on the right. That Global Water device is relatively durable, takes readings as often as desired, and can store data for months. It costs a little over $1,000. Oh, and if the orifice is submerged, so that the hole is underwater both upstream and downstream, then I will need two water level loggers, for $2,000.
Some folks at the Water Board are talking about telemetered data, meaning the data is sent to a remote location, or even available online. This would only be necessary if there were a great possibility that the diversion would be tampered with, or if it is a large diversion having a big impact on the amount of flow left in the stream. This has little benefit for anyone at most diversions. I would only install it if the need were very clear to me and everyone else. The added cost can be anywhere from $1,000 for short-range radio, to $20,000 or more for a full-on gaging station like you see on streams. The annual cost of operation and maintenance goes up, too.
Yesterday I met with some nice folks up in Hat Creek and Old Station. A big question right now is, how do I comply with Water Board regulations? Also, what exactly do I need to do for a measuring device? And, where can I find out that what I do will be acceptable, so I don’t get dinged after I did what I was supposed to?
Weirs are the least expensive, long-lasting, accurate devices. This weir was prefabricated and shipped from Briggs Manufacturing. Installation takes a few hours, and with new 2″ lumber, accuracy is plus or minus 5 %. That is better than the Water Board’s requirement of 10 % accuracy.
An orifice is often exactly the same as a weir, with the boards set as an orifice. Instead of the water going over, it goes through an exactly-sized hole. The accuracy is plus or minus 5 % if it is set up carefully. The cost is the same as for installing and operating a weir.
Here is another kind of orifice – a headgate. If it is a square headgate, or a new, round (Waterman) headgate, then the area of the opening can be determined with plus or minus 5% accuracy. An older headgate or one with a less-than-perfect opening can still be 10% accurate, within the Boards’s standards.
This is a Parshall flume. It uses no boards, so no debris can pile up. It is nearly maintenance-free. Flumes cost more to install, and if they settle and get out of level they lose accuracy. However, you’ll see many of these in Northern California. There are some prefabricated flumes just coming into production that will be easier to install and will include data collectors.
How do you know which one will work for a particular diversion? Someone with expertise can check the ditch, grade, soil-type, flow range, and other information and tell you within a couple of days what will work best, with an engineering report and cost estimate. Rights To Water Engineering does this for $300 to $500, and can install the device if you like, with an operations manual.
Filing Statements of Use with the Water Board is now all by computer through the Internet. That’s one of the things Rights To Water Engineering, and some other folks do at a reasonable cost. If that’s your worry then contact us and we can point you in the right direction or help you out with reporting.
This is the quick summary on compliance! Contact me at (530) 526-0134 or
