CWES

Center for Watersheds and Environmental Sustainability

Projects: Lake Tahoe Projects · Walker Lake Watershed Projects · Other Watershed Projects

Projects: Walker Lake Watershed

CWES faculty have been conducting research in the Walker Lake basin since CWES was formed in 1999. This research has ranged from cloud seeding to geomorphic to hydrologic studies in the basin. For example, an evaluation of additional surface-water flow from cloud seeding in the headwaters of the Walker Lake watershed provides information on the amount of runoff generated by cloud seeding (link to report pdf). A recent DRI study in the Walker Lake basin provides a history of lake level fluctuations over the last several thousand years (link to report.pdf). CWES faculty also conducted an EIS study for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on potential water rights purchases for Walker Lake. A summary report that provides the scientific information used for the EIS study is available (link to report.pdf).

In 2007, DRI in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), began a research program in the Walker Lake basin to provide information for restoration of Walker Lake and the Walker River, including the possible acquisition or leasing of water rights in the watershed. This collaborative research program consists of 10 projects. A brief description of the ten projects follows.

Development of a Water Rights GIS Database of the Walker Basin: In support of land and water acquisitions and the development of a Decision Support Tool to evaluate these acquisitions, a geographic information systems (GIS) framework for linking water rights with water distribution networks and points of diversion will be developed for the Walker Basin. Water rights to be contained within the GIS database for willing sellers include decreed natural flow rights, decreed/allocated storage rights, state-issued groundwater rights (both primary and supplemental), with the associated PLSS and individual parcel data. Working with willing sellers, the Walker River Irrigation District, and the Nevada Division of Water Resources, the water rights mapping team will validate the accuracy of the water rights mapping results. The resultant database, when integrated with the Decision Support Tool, hydrologic models, and the biodiversity assessment, may be used to assess how water and land acquisitions will affect the entire Walker Basin system.

Development of a Decision Support Tool in Support of Water Right Acquisitions in the Walker River Basin: The overall objective of this project is to develop, test and implement a computer-based DST for the Walker River basin to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed water right acquisitions for increasing water deliveries to Walker Lake. The DST will capture the spatial and temporal complexity of important relationships among climate, evapotranspiration, river flows, groundwater-surface water exchange along the river, irrigation practices, groundwater pumping, lake volume, and total dissolved solids levels in Walker Lake.

A Socio-economic, Political and Environmental Analysis of Land and Water Rights Acquisitions in the Walker River Ecosystem: This analysis will provide an overview of the context in which the acquisition of land and appurtenant water rights for ecosystem restoration in the Walker River system occurs. Key focal components include arid land agriculture, multi-state involvement, urban/rural interface issues, river restoration, sensitive species, Native American reservation and treaty rights, mediation efforts, the involvement of non-governmental organizations, and political conflict. The analysis will also include documentation of these efforts throughout the duration of the project with the final product being a book that captures, in visual and textual format, the history and contemporary framework of the Walker Basin.

Alternative Agriculture & Vegetation Management: The project objectives are to identify the cultural practices necessary for and the economic potential of low water use crops, including forages, alternative energy, and food crop production, with the aim of minimizing aerial soil erosion and evapotranspiration while enabling profitable agronomic returns on crops. In addition, the research will determine appropriate methods to re-establish desirable vegetation and prevent erosion in areas that may be affected by changing agricultural practices, and anticipate vegetation responses under likely scenarios identified through modeling efforts.

Plant, Soil, & Water Interactions: The goal of this task is to determine likely responses by soils and vegetation to changes in water application and consumptive use, water table depth, and soil salinity in three key landscape circumstances: 1) currently irrigated and peripheral lands that may undergo irrigation-induced lowering of water tables; 2) the Walker River riparian zone that presumably would undergo an increase in water table levels and a change in the net direction of water movement with increased in-stream flows during the irrigation season; and 3) the Walker River delta which currently suffers from soil salinization and infestation by invasive Tamarisk species. This will be accomplished through the collection of important soil characteristics, such as soil moisture depletion, susceptibility to wind erosion, salinization, nutrient fluxes, temperature, and organic matter content, as they relate to water treatment and vegetative cover. Information on the impacts of changes in water table and stream elevation on soil physical properties, and nitrogen and phosphorus cycling will aid in assuring that air and water quality will improve, both in the river and in the lake.

Assessing the Importance of Water Acquisitions to Health of the In-stream Environment, Aquatic Ecology, and TDS loading to Walker Lake: This project will describe the environmental condition of Walker Lake, determine characteristics of healthy and degraded Walker River aquatic communities, determine environmental factors that are most important to structuring aquatic communities in the Walker River, develop decision tools to analyze the efficacy of different water acquisitions to improve Walker Lake and Walker River ecological integrity, measure and evaluate the effects of increased flow on river bottom and stream temperatures relative to impacts on fish and microhabitats, apply temperature and water chemistry data to identify potential locations of groundwater inflows to both the Walker River and Walker Lake which would facilitate development of nutrient, salinity, and water inflow/outflow budgets.

Development of Recommendations to Maximize Water Conveyance and Minimize Degradation of Water Quality in Walker Lake Due to Erosion, Sediment Transport, and Salt Delivery: The primary objective of the research is to develop a set of recommendations to minimize further sediment and salt loading to Walker Lake and degradation to the lower Walker River under increased flows. This project will combine field surveys, GIS analyses, laboratory flume studies, and sediment transport and hydraulic modeling to define the conditions under which erosion occurs within the Walker River watershed and predict sediment erosion, transport, and delivery to Walker Lake over a range of flows. The results of this effort will be synthesized into a set of recommendations that can be used by land and water managers to assess potential impacts resulting from variations in flow, water quality, and channel geometry on the transport of sediments and on the flow capacity of the Walker River.

Water Conservation Practices for Agricultural Producers: The objective of this study is to determine the most economically effective use of water on agricultural lands and provide producers with an estimate of the potential amount of water rights they may be able to offer to the market for lease or sale. One way to increase the amount of water that agricultural land holders may be willing to sell is to improve the efficiency with which they use existing water rights. This can be accomplished through changes in agricultural crops or increased water use efficiency.

Formulation and Implementation of Economic Development Strategies to Mitigate Economic and Fiscal Dislocations: The proposed project includes the development of detailed estimates of the fiscal impacts driven by the economic impacts resulting from the acquisition of water rights and the changes in agricultural production and land use, formulation of economic development action plans to mitigate the projected economic and fiscal dislocations, and assistance in implementation of the economic development action plans. A benefit of this research will be to identify appropriate sustainable economic development actions and related public policy alternatives.

Wild Horse and Burro Marketing Study: The primary objective of this proposal is to determine which characteristics of wild horses and burros increase adoption rates and investigate alternative auction procedures which could increase adoption rates and simultaneously increase revenues to government agencies. Specific objectives are to estimate the value individuals place or the different characteristics of wild horses and burros offered at BLM auctions, and to analyze alternative auction procedures that will enhance wild horse and burro adoptions and increase auction revenues.

For a more detailed description of the projects and updates of the progress of the overall Walker Lake watershed research program go to www.nevada.edu/walker.

Available Report(s)

Application of a Hydrologic Model to Assess the Effects of Cloud Seeding in the Walker River Basin of Nevada (PDF)

A Case Study of Mesoscale and Plume Dispersion Modeling for a February 2004 Cloud Seeding Event in the Walker River Basin of California/Nevada (PDF)

Summary of Trace Chemical and Physical Measurements of Snowfall in Two Nevada Cloud Seeding Target Areas (PDF)

The Walker Basin, Nevada and California: Physical Environment, Hydrology, and Biology (PDF)