Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5205
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5205
Ground-water rights consist of three categories, (1) certificates, (2) permits, and (3) valid claims. In addition, there are outstanding applications for new rights and for changes and transfers of existing rights. Based on information in WRTS and some additional information provided by WaDOE, there are about 2,575 certificates, 299 permits, 859 outstanding applications, and more than 16,600 claims in the basin. WRTS contains only selected information from the actual water right document. A permit or certificate represents a right (appropriated water) to withdraw and use ground water, whereas a claim may or may not be valid. For a claimant to have a permit or certificate, the claim would have to be upheld in an adjudication process.
Most pumpage categories are based on ground-water rights. Therefore, the accuracy of the estimates to some extent are dependent on the accuracy of information in WRTS. Rights with values deemed questionable were sent to WaDOE for verification and any errors were fixed in the databases developed during this study. Some valid rights in the basin are not in WRTS, but determination of these rights was beyond the scope of this study. For example, a list was compiled of 381 wells with some type of water-right identifier on the well log that could not be found in WRTS. An analysis of this information by WaDOE (J. Kirk, Washington State Department of Ecology, written commun., 2005) indicated that either the well did not have a right, the right was relinquished, the right was valid but the well was outside of the basin, or it was a valid right that was not in WRTS. About 30 of the 381 wells had valid rights or about 1 percent of the total rights. However, total pumpage from other rights not in WRTS should be minor compared to cumulative estimates presented in this report because the rights for all major public water supply providers and irrigators are accounted for.
A water right has a priority date, purpose of use (the PRU), point(s) of withdrawal (POW–identified by township, range, and section (TRS) in WRTS), place of use (POU), and an allowable quantity to be pumped. The POU is not included in WRTS. Allowable quantity is the appropriated quantity, sometimes called the entitlement or authorized amount. These terms are used interchangeably in this report. Quantity is expressed as both a maximum instantaneous rate in gallon per minute (gal/min) and as an annual value in acre-ft. For 21 rights, either the instantaneous rate or the annual value was not listed in WRTS; therefore, the sum of the allowable quantity for either quantity category is not a complete total. For rights with a PRU of IR, FP, and (or) ST, the maximum acreage to which the water can be applied also is in WRTS, and is related to the POU. Not included in the number of and quantities for the rights listed below, is information from the additional 30 rights that were not in WRTS; these rights total about 21,000 acre-ft of appropriated water, of which about 6,700 acre-ft is outside the basin.
The total quantities for the certificates and permits are:
| No. of certificates and permits |
Instantaneous (gal/min) |
Annual (acre-ft) |
Irrigated area (acres) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificates | 2,57 | 720,683 | 422,040 | 101,371 |
| Permits | 299 | 230,623 | 107,191 | 28,199 |
These values include primary and standby/reserve water rights. A primary water right can be used at all times for the PRU during the allowable time period defined in the water-right document for the right. Standby/reserve rights are associated with and supplemental to a primary irrigation right, almost always a surface-water right. The standby/reserve rights allow the use of ground water only during years when the TWSA cannot meet all demands; these years include emergencies and (or) droughts. The methods used to distinguish between primary and standby/reserve rights are described in a following section.
Outstanding applications were not analyzed during this study. As of 2001, 859 applications represented a total potential instantaneous rate of 616,306 gal/min and a total irrigated acreage of 64,308 acres, about 50 percent of the allowable irrigated acreage in 2000. Claims are not addressed in this part of the report; they are discussed in a later section as a category of ground-water pumpage.
A well or wells associated with a right were identified, including when possible, the drillers’ log or logs. This association was needed to (1) help estimate ground-water pumpage (withdrawals of appropriated water account for most pumpage); (2) compare estimated pumpage from individual wells to the appropriated right; (3) identify hydrogeologic unit or units that a right/pumpage is associated with; and (4) provide data to simulate effects of pumpage in ground-water flow models. To make these associations, various databases were examined.
The Central Regional Office, Water Resource Program, of WaDOE developed a digital database for ground-water rights for the lower part of the Yakima River Basin (WRIA 37). For a right, the database generally lists the TRS (and sometimes the quarter-quarter section), a water-right number (Control ID, also listed in WRTS), well information such as depth, diameter, and name on the well log, and in some cases, a well number for a well based on the well numbering system for the State; the well number either was assigned by WaDOE or was a USGS well number. Personnel from the USGS examined in-house paper copies of drillers’ (well) logs to associate a log with a listing in the database. Paper copies are organized by county and within a county by the well number. This step was completed to (1) verify that information in WaDOE’s database matched information on a well log (well depth, owner, construction date, etc.), (2) add the Control ID to the well log, if necessary, and (3) determine if a well log with a Control ID matched a listing in WaDOE’s database. For many older rights, the Control ID was not listed on the log, but the original application, document, and (or) certificate number was listed. For these cases, WRTS, which contains the original certificate number for some rights, was searched to determine if a matching certificate number was available to determine the Control ID. In addition, the original application number generally is similar to part of the Control ID, so the database was searched for the application number. Otherwise, WRTS was searched for the owner’s name, right, and (or) TRS.
If a paper well-log could not be found for a right listed in the digital database, NWIS was checked to determine if a well matched a database listing. In some cases no in-house well-log was available, but an original field-visit sheet was found with the Control ID or other pertinent information, such as a measured water-level. When no matching log could be found, WaDOE’s on-line well-log database (Washington State Well Log Viewer: http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/welllog, accessed August 16, 2006) was searched to determine if the well log was available. If the well log was available, it was printed and filed with the NWIS well paper copies for NWIS wells or it was filed separately for later input of pertinent information into NWIS for non-NWIS wells.
For the rights with a POW outside the area included in the lower-basin digital database, the same techniques were used, starting first with the in-house paper copies. These rights were more difficult to associate with a log because WRTS does not contain well information. Checking was based on the POW, ownership name for the right, date of priority, and the PRU. Searches of paper copies, digital information (organized by well number) compiled as part of this study, and the on-line database started with all wells in the TRS listed as the POW for the right.
To associate water rights and well logs, as many as possible of the public water supply wells were associated with a right. This task was difficult because of numerous public water supply systems in the basin (not all of which have rights) and many of the systems have names with no relation to the name on the right or the well log. Also, many systems use wells that were initially drilled for single or multi-household use and were later converted to a public water supply system. In addition, most smaller systems do not have a right because they pump water under an exempt status. However, it was the goal to associate as many of the systems to a right, when applicable, and (or) a log. In some cases, public water supply rights were associated with a log, but not with a Washington State public water supply system.
Of the 2,874 active rights, all but 220 were associated with a well log or logs. In addition, the total number of wells associated with rights was greater than the number of rights because: (1) a right might be associated with more than one well due to a well deepening or reconditioning; (2) a right may have more than one POW; and (or) (3) a well may have been replaced by another well. Forty-eight of the 220 rights without associated logs were assigned some well information based on information from WaDOE’s lower-basin database.
A digital file was developed that contained information from WRTS, a USGS well number, and well information such as depth, location, and openings. Location is based on reasonable estimates of latitude and longitude of wells field visited by either USGS or WaDOE or by the center of the POW section. In some cases, a quarter or quarter-quarter section for a right was identified by WaDOE or by the USGS based on information from a drillers’ log; for these cases, the latitude and longitude of the center was used as the location. This file contains some errors in associations between rights and well logs because: (1) actual water-right documents were not examined; (2) incorrect water-right identifiers may be on a well-log or logs; (3) well owner may have multiple wells and only one or some of these wells may be associated with a right (the Control ID may be on all logs); and (4) there was a replacement well but the replacement well log was not found or examined because the original log for the right was found and it was assumed this was the correct (existing) well for the right.
For all rights, the latitude and longitude of a well also was checked to ensure that the well was in the correct TRS, and for most wells, in the correct quarter-quarter section. A unique sequence number, based on the well-numbering system was assigned to wells not in NWIS and input to the digital file containing the well and water-right information.
Standby/reserve rights have a principal PRU of IR and (or) FP, and generally, but not always, are associated with use of a well in a year when the TWSA cannot meet the appropriated surface-water rights and the junior surface-water users would have their appropriated water prorated. After 1945, prorating occurred in 1973, 1977, 1979, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2001, and 2005. In these years, junior surface-water rights (typically post-1905) in the basin were prorated and the full appropriated quantity was not available. Prior to 1977, prorating of junior rights occurred only in 1973, when junior users received about 80 percent of their appropriated quantity. It was not until 1977, when the initial forecast of the prorating was about 40 percent for the junior entitlements, that there was need to drill a well for standby/reserve use. This is especially true because of the cost of developing a ground-water supply. Starting in 1977, numerous wells were drilled by junior users for supplemental irrigation, which generally, but not always, occurred in September and October. Most standby/reserve rights are in the lower part of the basin.
Standby/reserve rights consist of two categories. The first category allows the water-right holder to use the right when the total amount of the prorated allotment is used. Many early standby/reserve rights are in this category. However, the allowable quantity listed in WRTS may not be the actual quantity allowed. A water-duty was assigned to earlier rights, generally based on the surface-water duty, about 3‑5 acre-ft/acre, (quantity divided by acreage—yielding a water duty of acre-ft per acre as the allowable application rate), but in the water right document (not in WRTS) this quantity generally was limited to a lesser value. Not until about 1980 were more standby/reserve rights assigned base-level water duties of about 0.5–2 acre-ft/acre.
For the first category, a few rights are standby/reserve to a primary ground-water right. In addition, a few but unknown number of rights issued as standby/reserve rights under the first category actually are primary rights because the water‑right document did not explicitly state that the right was standby/reserve for use in years in which a junior surface-water user has the appropriated water prorated (J. Kirk, Washington State Department of Ecology, oral commun., 2005). The actual number of such standby/reserve rights was not determined, but the number is very small.
Standby/reserve rights for the second category were approved for one-time use starting with the 2001 drought and again during the 2005 drought. These “emergency permits” were issued when a drought was declared. Wells with emergency permits cannot be used in another year unless authorization for withdrawal is approved (essentially issuing a new emergency permit).
In lieu of reviewing all the paper and microfiche water-right documents in WaDOE’s office, a method was developed to estimate which rights are standby/reserve. First, standby/reserve rights were assumed to be in surface-water irrigation districts with proratable rights. Therefore for each well with a right (particularly for the 2,226 rights that have both a PRU of IR and allowable acreage for irrigation), it was first estimated if the well was located within an irrigation district. The irrigation district boundaries were obtained from Reclamation (E. Young, Bureau of Reclamation, written commun., 2002). These boundaries (fig. 10) are primarily based on 1974 maps that show irrigation districts in Washington State. The maps originally were developed at a smaller scale and are approximate in some areas. Wells near a boundary may be inside or outside of an irrigation district. Locations of selected wells (based on the PRU, allowable quantity, and priority date of a right) near an irrigation district boundaries were examined in more detail to determine whether they were in the district boundaries.
Several assumptions were made to estimate the type of right (primary or standby/reserve) for wells in an irrigation district. The first assumption was that all rights with a priority date before 1977 were primary rights. About 21 wells associated with rights in irrigation districts were constructed prior to 1977, but their water rights have a priority date after 1976; for this study, these rights were assumed to be standby/reserve, but some of these may hold primary rights. The next assumption was that all right holders with fewer than 5 allowable acres for irrigation had primary rights, regardless of the priority date.
For irrigation rights with a POU of 5–10 allowable acres, an estimate of whether a right was primary or standby/reserve was made based on the water-duty, PRU, location, priority date, and information from the well log. Of the 2,226 rights with allowable irrigable lands (excluding rights with a single PRU of FP), 925 rights have IR as the only PRU. The remaining rights have multiple purposes, including DS, DM, DG, CI, FP, FR, HE, DY, ST, and EN. If a right was not obviously primary, it was assumed to be standby/reserve. This same methodology was used for rights with larger allowable irrigated acreage and, in addition, field notes (such as “well is used continuously during irrigation season”), information on well logs, and the well locations were examined in detail.
Using these methods, about 560 rights were designated as standby/reserve; 2 rights are supplemental to a ground-water right. For the 25 rights with a PRU of FP and no PRU of IR, 21 were estimated to be standby/reserve. Based on knowledge of water rights in the basin, WaDOE concurred with this approach and indicated that it should provide a reasonable estimate of standby/reserve rights (J. Kirk, Washington State Department of Ecology, written commun., 2005).
U.S.
Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological
Survey
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