Attachment_5-Coleman_NFH_Water_Rights_Summary.pdf

Coleman NFH Water Rights Summary

Tim Mayer and Stephen Plison, Water Resources Branch, US Fish and Wildlife Service

May 19, 2014, Updated Nov 15, 2016; April 18, 2018

Water Supply and Distribution

The Coleman National Fish Hatchery (NFH) diverts all of its water supply from Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. The watershed area above the hatchery is 358 square miles and the headwaters of Battle Creek are on the west flank of Lassen Peak. This is an area of permeable volcanic geology and the stream is strongly groundwater dominated. The USGS has maintained a streamflow gaging station (USGS No 11376550) just downstream of the hatchery from 1961 to the present. The average monthly flow is 498 cfs, with a minimum monthly flow of 256 cfs and a maximum monthly flow of 721 cfs. The monthly Baseflow Index (computed as the minimum monthly flow over the average monthly flow) is 51%, which is moderately high. The fairly narrow range of monthly flows and the high Baseflow Index indicate that the streamflow is relatively constant and that summer flows are relatively high.

The hatchery diverts Battle Creek at three different points of diversion: Intake 1, Intake 2, and Intake 3 (see Coleman NFH Flow map in Q:\State_California\AOT_Coleman_NFH\Maps). Intake 1 is in the primary diversion point and is located just downstream in the tailrace for the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Coleman Station hydropower plant. This is Battle Creek water that has been diverted further upstream for use at the hydropower station. So it is water that has already been diverted and reported by PGE. Because of that, the hatchery diversion is dependent on there being water discharge from the powerhouse. Water from Intake 1 mostly enters a 46” concrete pipeline which conveys the water to the Coleman Canal. The canal has a maximum capacity of 72 cfs. When Intake 1 was rebuilt in 2008-2009, a second intake pipe (Expanded intake 1) was added that can divert water to the Intake 3 pipeline (described below).

Intake 2 diverts water directly from Battle Creek into the original Intake 1 pipeline and the Coleman Canal. Intake 2 is used only in emergencies, in the event that Intake 1 is not able to divert (if the hydropower station is offline, for example). It is a big deal to operate Intake 2 and it is rarely done (need to consult NOAA if this is done). The two intakes are not operated simultaneously. Water from the Coleman Canal is pumped to the sand filtration and ozone treatment facilities. Water for adult fish is not treated with ozone.

Coleman Canal is monitored with a Sontek ADVM that is installed in what looks to be a flume. The canal is about 7 ft wide and 4 ft depth at the point where the meter is deployed. The hatchery is not clear how the data are logged but the data go into the SCADA system. The site has recently been managed by the Water Resources branch and is being verified for site certification under Senate Bill 88. Aquatic vegetation and back up flows and affect the meter readings according to the hatchery. The meter was installed by an engineering firm under the oversight of Gary Blefgen (Div of Engineering).

Intake 3 diverts water directly from Battle Creek through a 48” pipeline into two settling basins.

Expanded Intake 1 also diverts into this system and the two intakes are never run simultaneously.

Usually Intake 3 is only run May-Oct or so, depending on rainfall. This pipeline is monitored with a NuSonic ultrasonic meter on the pipe to meter the water going to the settling basins. (The Coleman Canal is low gradient and slow moving and essentially acts as a settling pond itself, precluding the need for a settling pond for diversions from Intakes 1 and 2). The maximum capacity at Intake 3 is reportedly 50 cfs. There is too much concrete on the pipe itself, inside and outside, to get an independent measurement to check this meter. The hatchery has proposed draining the settling pond for cleaning and then timing the refill to check the measurement.

A pump moves water from the settling basins at Intake 3 to the sand filtration system and ozone treatment facilities. The outflow from the treatment system is metered I believe. Water can bypass this pump and be delivered to Neves Creek, a short canal that originates just west of the settling basins on the southeast side of the hatchery property. Water in Neves Creek is either diverted at the spawning pumps or is returned to Battle Creek. The water level in Neves Creek must be maintained fairly high to keep the spawning pumps submerged. Water can also reach Neves Creek from Screen Chamber 1 on the Coleman Canal.

The hatchery returns water to Battle Creek at three different discharge points. The first and furthest upstream point is Discharge Point 1, the outlet of Neves Creek, just upstream of the fish weir in Battle Creek. The second discharge, Discharge Point 2 located at the fish weir, is the return flow from the raceways (when they aren’t being cleaned). The third and furthest downstream discharge is Discharge Point 3 which is return flow from the raceways and elsewhere that has flowed through the Pollution Abatement Ponds. All three discharge points are regulated through a NPDES permit.

There is some additional flow monitoring of flows at pumps or outflows on the hatchery. They may depend on these more than anything else to check flows and make sure everything is operating correctly. The state has required annual reporting and these have been filed every year but it is not clear how the monthly flow measurements are estimated. There are chemical analyses done regularly on the outflows as part of the NPDES permitting requirements.

Water Rights

The hatchery has four state appropriative water rights for Battle Creek water, totaling 122 cfs. All are for fish culture and hatchery purposes. The rights are shown below:

App

Permit

License

FWS

Quantity (cfs)

Quantity (ac-ft)

Priority Date Points of Diversion (PODs)

13540 8838 4472 771 61 44,163 01/12/1950 Intake 1 & 2 17862 11615 6591 769 11 10/25/1957 Intake 1 & 2 20288 13384 7993 770 30 21,719 07/03/1961 Intake 1 & 3 22227 15046 9561 768 20 14,480 07/19/1965 Intake 1 & 3

Not all of this water is available to the hatchery though. When the hatchery was established by Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) in 1942, the BOR acquired properties from private landowners. For some reason, the BOR decided to file new rights for the hatchery rather than changing the existing rights for these lands. The private landowners held senior water rights (pre-1914 appropriative rights) to Battle Creek for irrigation for much of the land in the area. The rights have been noticed but not quantified. The landowners still exercise those rights on adjacent lands today. The construction of the hatchery partially obliterated one of two canals used by these irrigators for water delivery. A 1944 contract between the BOR and these private landowners allowed the hatchery to divert and use Battle Creek water (a non-consumptive use) and return it to the river if they agreed to divert and bypass 13.13 cfs of water through the Coleman Canal to the Gover-Wilcox Ditch at the northwest end of the hatchery property.

The Coleman Canal water co-mingles with the Gover Ditch water. The 13.13 cfs of unused water is included in the total diversion so the total water supply available to the hatchery through their rights is really only 108.87 cfs and not 122 cfs. Note that nothing in the hatchery water rights specifically allows this diversion. The Service interprets this water as being diverted under the pre-1914 appropriative rights of the downstream landowners since the hatchery water rights are not for irrigation purposes nor do they cover these lands. We are simply ensuring that this water is diverted and delivered through the Coleman Canal.

The 1944 contract also promised that 9.6 cfs of hatchery return flow would be delivered to the west end of the hatchery property, at or near a canal in Section 1, for use by downstream users. However, to date, no such canal or infrastructure exists or has ever existed for delivery of this return flow to the neighboring properties. The return flow from the hatchery goes back into Battle Creek. It’s not clear whether this portion of the right (the 9.6 cfs) has been forfeited or not.

The hatchery water rights are diverted from Battle Creek at the three points of diversion discussed above. Both Intake 1 and 2 originally fed into the Coleman Canal only but a rehabilitation project in 2008 and 2009 increased the diversion capacity at Intake 1 to 122 cfs by adding a second new pipeline, with a maximum diameter of 36 inches, to discharge into the existing 48-inch-diameter steel pipeline from Intake 3. Intake 3 is about 0.4 miles downstream from Intake 2 and also draws water directly from Battle Creek. Intake 3 was modified in 2008 and 2009 through the same rehabilitation project to meet current fish screening criteria.

As part of these modifications, on February 20, 2008, the Service petitioned the CA State Water Resources Board to change the PODs of three of the hatchery’s water rights: Licenses 4472, 7993, and 9561. The purpose of the change was to add a common POD (Intake 1) for all three licenses. Licenses 7993 and 9561 were modified to add Intake 1 to the existing diversion location of Intake 3. License 4472 was modified to allow the full 61 cfs, rather than just 39 cfs as limited under the old license, to be diverted at Intake 1. The fourth water right, License 6591, already allowed the full 11 cfs to be diverted at Intake 1 or Intake 2 so it was not changed. Volume limitations were specified by the state on the amended licenses. The volume limitation simply assumes continuous diversion for an entire year.

License 6591 was not amended and there is no volume limitation on the original license.

License 4472 (FWS 771) and 6591 (FWS 769)

THE POINTS OF DIVERSION OF SUCH WATER ARE LOCATED:

(Intake 1) By California Coordinate System of 1983, Zone 1, North 2,030,391 feet and East 6,527,091 feet, being within SE1/4 of SE1/4 of Section 31, T30N, R2W, MDB&M.

(Intake 2) By California Coordinate System of 1983, Zone 1, North 2,030,109 feet and East 6,526,708 feet, being within NE1/4 of NE1/4 of Section 6, T29N, R2W, MDB&M.

License 7993 (FWS 770) and 9561 (FWS 768)

THE POINTS OF DIVERSION OF SUCH WATER ARE LOCATED:

(Intake 1) By California Coordinate System of 1983, Zone 1, North 2,030,391 feet and East 6,527,091 feet, being within SE1/4 of SE1/4 of Section 31, T30N, R2W, MDB&M.

(Intake 3) By California Coordinate System of 1983, Zone 1, North 2,029,502 feet and East 6,525,488 feet, being within NW1/4, of NE1/4 of Section 6, T29N, R2W, MDB&M.