Wyoming State Water Plan
Wyoming State Water Plan
Wyoming Water Development Office
6920 Yellowtail Rd
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7626
Wyoming Water Development Office
6920 Yellowtail Rd
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Phone: 307-777-7626
Powder/Tongue River Basin Water Plan
Technical Memoranda
SUBJECT: |
Appendix I Environmental Uses |
PREPARED BY: | HKM Engineering Inc. |
DATE: | March 2002 |
INTRODUCTION
Environmental uses of water in the Powder/Tongue River Basin are largely non-consumptive. For instance, instream flows by definition maintain water in the channel to improve habitat. Environmental uses can also be consumptive. Consider, for instance, wetlands maintenance: surface water spread over a large area increases the amount of surface area for evaporative losses.
This memorandum details the water uses associated with environmental uses, including desired reservoir pool levels and release rates, instream bypass requirements made for fisheries and wildlife, local environmental concerns surrounding environmental uses, and where possible, attempts to bracket the optimum stream flows and reservoir levels for environmental use.
INSTREAM FLOWS
Because instream flows can ensure that minimum levels of water are available to environmental uses from the stream rather than being completely appropriated to other uses, these uses have received much attention in the recent past. Under the 1986 Wyoming statute 41-3-1001 to 1014, the State of Wyoming codified its understanding that "instream flows" constitute a beneficial use of water in the state. The same legislation details how instream flow water rights are filed, evaluated, and ultimately regulated.
The instream flow law change of use to in-channel use allows instream flow water rights to be filed or granted on unappropriated water originating as natural flow or from storage in existing or new reservoirs. The use of natural flow sources is defined as the minimum needed to maintain or improve existing fisheries. The use of stored water is defined as the minimum needed to establish or maintain new or existing fisheries.
The law also requires that that Wyoming Game and Fish Commission identify stream segments for instream flow filings and the minimum flows required. The Wyoming Water Development Commission then files the application with the State Engineer's Office in the name of the State of Wyoming.
Wyoming law makes some specific points about instream flows that anyone contemplating an instream flow right must understand:
Six instream flow rights are on file in the Powder/Tongue River Basin (Table 1).
Table 1: Instream Flow Filings, Wyoming Game and Fish Department
Drainage | Tributary | Location | Flow/Timing | Priority |
Little Big Horn | ||||
Dry Fork | Mouth of Garland River (section 35, township 57, range 89) to mouth of Dry Fork (NE 1/4 of the NW 1/4, section 12, township 57, range 90)(7.4 miles long) |
20 cfs, Oct. 1-March 31 25 cfs, April 1-June 30 25 cfs, July 1-Sept. 30 * |
11/30/2000 | |
Little Big Horn | Mouth of Dry Fork (NE 1/4 of NW 1/4, section 12, township 57, range 90) to north boundary of SW 1/4 of SW 1/4, section 20, township 58, range 89 (4.40 miles long) |
60 cfs, Oct. 1-Nov. 15 50 cfs, Nov. 16-March 31 60 cfs, April 1-June 30 62 cfs, July 1-Sept. 30 |
3/6/1989 | |
Powder River | ||||
Clear Creek | Confluence of North and South Clear Creek (NW 1/4 of SE 1/4 of section 7, township 50, range 83) to the SE 1/4 of NW 1/4, section 10, township 50, range 83 (4.9 miles long) |
7.8 cfs, Oct. 1-March 31 40 cfs, April 1-June 30 30 cfs, July 1-Sept. 30 |
10/6/1994 | |
Clear Creek | Ending point of last segment to NW 1/4 of SW 1/4 section 5, township 50, range 82 (just upstream from Johnson Co. Ditch). Dividing line: Buffalo Water Wagon Pipeline and Ditch (4.2 miles long) |
6 cfs, Oct. 1-March 31 40 cfs, April 1-June 30 25 cfs, July 1-Sept. 30 |
10/6/1994 | |
Middle Fork Powder | West side of section 28, township 42, range 85 to east boundary of NE 1/4 of NE 1/4, section 22, township 42 range 84 (9.86 miles long) |
12 cfs, July 1-March 31 25 cfs, April 1-June 30 |
2/2/1987 | |
Tounge River | Tounge River | USFS boundary upstream to the confluence of the South Fork of the Tounge. From the confluence of the North and South Forks (NE 1/4 of NW 1/4, section 22, township 56, range 88) downstream to east section of section 10, township 56, range 87 (8.28 miles long) |
60 cfs, July 1-March 31 80 cfs, April 1-April 30 180 cfs, May 1-June 30 |
6/16/1987 |
* The Wyoming Game and Fishing Department also recommended a channel maintenance flow as a part of the instream flow allocation for the Dry Fork of the Little Big Horn. This has not been approved by the State Engineer's Office
Of the instream flow applications in Table 1, three have been approved by the Wyoming State Engineer's Office (Little Big Horn, Middle Fork Powder, and Tongue River); the others are pending. Only the Tongue River segment has been adjudicated. These instream flow segments are provided in a GIS data theme for the Powder/Tongue River Basin as part of this study (Figure 1)
Because environmental concerns are interested in instream flows throughout the state, the number and location of these rights are subject to change. Wyoming Game and Fish Department instream flow supervisor Tom Annear is currently evaluating a number of streams in the Powder/Tongue River Basin as candidates for instream flow rights.
COAL BED METHANE PRODUCED WATER
All coal bed methane (CBM) activities are dependent on lowering the pressure over the coal seam through reducing the column of water in the coal aquifer. The water produced from these wells is not used consumptively - at least initially. The water is simply transferred from groundwater to surface water status.
Environmental concerns about this water fall into two categories: quantity and quality.
Quantity
To determine quantity, HKM made an estimate of the produced in the Powder/Tongue River Basin based on an analysis of the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission's online data. (See the Industrial Use Memo for more detail on this process.) The estimate shows 6,184 wells producing approximately 24,329 acre-feet in the year 2001 in the basin.
Environmental concerns about this quantity of groundwater now flowing over the surface include increased sedimentation in streams; increased erosion in everything from the draws and gullies collecting the discharges to main-stem rivers downstream; constant presence of water over soils in areas historically watered only in brief episodes; and increased flooding.
Unfortunately, little data are available to substantiate estimates of increased flows as a result of CBM activity. One recent attempt to generate better information on the effects of increased surface water flows yielded a channel width data index. Dr. Greg Wilkerson, a civil engineering professor at the University of Wyoming, notes that the lack of flow data kept him from being able to model flow effects, but that the index produced by the study provides a means of determining how much change has occurred. The index and report are available through the Water Resources Data System at the University of Wyoming.
Quality
A few of the water quality concerns resulting from CBM activity include the interaction of sodium-adsorption ratio (S.A.R.) in the produced water with soils downstream of the discharge; the variable nature of potential pollutants like sodium, barium, iron, and manganese in produced waters; the emergence of salt crusts on newly waterlogged clays; and the reaction of organisms (from microinvertebrates to fish to humans) to the produced waters in draws, ponds, or rivers.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has established a general permit for coal bed methane discharge waters that requires operators to monitor their discharges based on Tables 2 and 3.
Table 2: WDEQ Water Quality Division Coal Bed Methane General Permit Monitoring Parameters and Limits
Parameter | Limits |
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons | Daily Maximum - 10 mg/l |
Specific Conductance | Daily Maximum - 7,500 micromhos/cm |
Radium 226 | Daily Maximum - 1 pCi/l |
pH | 6.5 to 8.5 standard units |
Total Iron | Daily Maximum - 60 |