Impacts Of Climate And Municipal Water
Demand Changes On Ecological Flows In The
Columbia River Basin, USA
Author(s)
M. E. Barber, J. Adam, K. Rajagopalan, G. Yorgey & R. Mahler
Abstract
Water rights in the western United States are granted under the prior
appropriation doctrine; essentially first in time, first in right. Because many
rights were issued prior to instream or ecological flow requirements, regulatory
agencies have little authority to curtail diversions even when critical endangered
species habitat is threatened. Compounding the issues is that municipal water
rights throughout the Columbia River Basin were issued with significant
\“inchoate” portions (unused) that threaten sustainable water management as
climate change and population growths alter instream flows. In many regions,
this is placing challenging restrictions on management for endangered species
such as salmon and bull trout species. This is slowly evolving into policies such
as the one adopted by the state of Washington where state investment in water
projects reserves at least 1/3 for instream uses.
We developed a combined VIC/CropSyst model that predicted water supply
changes in the Columbia River watershed (7 states and a portion of British
Columbia) due to climate change in the 2030’s and, by examining municipal
water plans and population growth models, predicted future water demands
within existing water rights and evaluated impacts to instream flows. There is an
expected 26% increase in municipal demand (700 MCM) in the State of
Washington alone with just over 50% being consumptively used. Other upstream
communities in Idaho, Montana, and Oregon face similar situations to varying
degrees. Results indicated that communities located on several tributaries will
Keywords
instream flow requirements, endangered species, climate change, prior appropriation doctrine
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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