Klamath River Basin Science Conference: Water resources discussed at Wednesday’s meeting 

The upper and lower basin hydrology presentations were given by Marshall Gannett of the United States Geological Survey and Mike Belchik of the Yurok Tribe, respectively.

Gannett stated that much of the water in the upper Klamath Basin drains from wetlands and other sources into Upper Klamath Lake, from which the Klamath River begins. He also touched on the importance of groundwater to the basin’s agriculture and wildlife, as many of the basin’s streams are groundwater-fed late in the season.

Gannett also discussed the impacts on the water system from agricultural modifications and modifications by the federal government, resulting in the draining of a large portion of basin wetlands and Lower Klamath Lake, among other effects. He said that a goal for future science in the basin will be an understanding of hydrologic budgets, or the accounting of inflow, outflow and storage of water in a certain hydrologic “unit,” such as an irrigation district or basin.

In order to do so, he said, the effort will have to involve a greater understanding of the interaction of surface and groundwater sources, including modeling that couples the two sources that can then be coupled with management models for long-range planning.
Belchik stated that groundwater is important in the lower basin as well, along with the melting of snowpack and the additional water from systems dependent on rain. He said that Klamath River flows in the lower basin are determined partially by management decisions and partially by natural tendencies, with flows from Iron Gate Lake determined by policy decisions and flows also dependent on major tributaries such as the Shasta and Scott rivers.

Belchik, in describing the Shasta River, stated that its hydrology is mixed, being partly composed of groundwater input, snowmelt and surface flows, and is largely dependent on the Big Springs creek complex. He said that while the amount of water in groundwater storage is unknown, it is believed that the surface irrigation that takes place in the basin may act to recharge the stores.

Both the Shasta and Scott rivers have faced “critical” flow levels in recent summers, according to Belchik, who said that efforts are underway to better understand the connection between groundwater and surface flows, citing efforts by the community to understand those interconnections. He said that current research across the basin is looking at declining snowpack, rising winter temperatures and the effects on stream flows in the face of a predicted shift in the climate scenario, which was also discussed by Gannett.

 

He stated that it is believed that by removing the four dams being considered for removal along the Klamath, decreasing snowpack input may be counteracted by opening access to upstream input from various spring-type sources of water.

Tammy Wood spoke next on the factors controlling the Aphanizomenon flos-aqae (AFA) bloom in Upper Klamath Lake. She stated that AFA, an algae, may be tied to the algae growths containing cyanotoxins and also presents problems for fish by creating low dissolved oxygen conditions that can be deadly for adult fish.

Wood described the methods for determining the movement and accumulation of the blooms, explaining how knowledge of the circulation of lake water due to wind currents and the buoyancy of the algal blooms has helped to explain how low dissolved oxygen conditions are created by the algae and spread throughout the lake. She also discussed the importance of the internal loading of phosphorous to bloom growth, although she said that currently, the process by which the phosphorous contributes to that growth is not well understood and will have to be addressed in future modeling attempts.

Jake Kann, from Aquatic Ecosystem Sciences, LLC, discussed AFA at a basin-wide level, saying that it did not appear in the river system until the late 1850s. He said that it is hypothesized that aspects of the water flowing from wetlands in the upper basin may have acted as a suppressor on the early growth of AFA and a reduction in that flow may explain an increase in the growth of AFA colonies.

Kann stated that the increase cannot be explained by the loss of wetlands input, however, explaining that phosphorous and nitrogen-rich runoff and tailwater may also create conditions beneficial to the algae. The issues faced by science, he said, include the cell density measure of the algal blooms exceeding public health guidelines, explaining the absence of the toxins associated with the algae in some areas and years, and understanding the accumulation of the toxins in aquatic life even in years where the concentration of the toxin is low.

Clayton Creager of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board concluded the water resources session by describing the water quality ecological risk assessment conceptual model used to identify stressors to the system and their impacts. He stated that the model looks at stressors to the system and current environmental conditions, risk factors and their outcomes and finally how the different beneficial uses of the water are affected and how to protect them. He stated that the model is being used for the Klamath River to assess a number of stressors to the system.

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