Mountain Lake Conservation Plan

Flushing the pristine waters of Mountain Lake directly to the ocean during a statewide drought should prompt us to consider alternatives that would provide better conservation while providing the best use of the water owned by the citizen's of Washington.

The water right laws are complicated. The “use it or lose it” relinquishment laws can cause confusion and anxiety. This plan documents some of the existing issues and offers a simple and inexpensive alternative that would significantly improve the overall public benefit.

In the 2004/2005 rainy season, Mountain Lake did not spill over the dam with the stop logs in place. Our reservoir (Mountain Lake) was not full, but we continued to dump hundreds of acre ft of water from the reservoir so it could be diverted into Cascade Lake, which was already overflowing from natural springs and creeks.

As you can see from the historic water levels in Mountain Lake, it is a frequent event for Mountain Lake to not reach capacity. Even when 3 cubic ft/sec of water was being dumped from Mountain Lake to satisfy Rosario's water right for the entire month of Nov., the diversion ditch was dry:
  10/27/2005. (click on pic for higher res)
The log on the left is in the diversion channel from Cascade Creek to Cascade Lake, which was already overflowing as shown on the right.
Clearly the diversion is not working, but we were required to flush 2 - 3 CFS from Mountain Lake to satisfy the Rosario water right.

Please see table 8 in the Rosario Water Budget Supply Analysis  (attached figures)
(Not available to the public at the time of the initial presentation of this conservation plan to the East Orcas Water Supply Committee)

Please follow this link to review a schematic representation of  The East Orcas Watershed.

Rosario has filed applications for water right modifications to convert thousands of  acre ft to domestic use.
Another application was published by Rosario/Eastsound Water Users Assn. (EWUA) in the Islands' Sounder 11/9/2005, details will be added here later.
The long term plan as indicated in Rosario's applications is to convert thousands of acre ft of water to domestic use. This will have a dramatic affect on Mountain Lake, Cascade Creek and Cascade Lake.
 
Here is an option that just simply makes sense:

1)  Do not divert water from Cascade Creek to Cascade Lake when Cascade Lake is already overflowing, or is going to with a very high degree of certainty in the current rain season.

2) During a dry spell, reduce the volume of water released from the Mountain Lake Dam, and reduce the Rosario diversion from Cascade Creek and the volume of water used by the hydro generator by the same amount.

3)      The water retained in Mountain Lake will have several beneficial uses:
3)      Put the portion of the water right not being diverted into a temporary revocable trust with the state (not an issue during a drought).

4)      If needed later during a prolonged drought, water could be released from the Mountain Lake dam and diverted into Cascade Lake by temporarily revoking the trust. If the water was not needed, it would go down Cascade Creek to provide additional water for salmon, sea run cutthroat, trout and other fish and wildlife.

Perry Harvester (Dept. of Fish and Wildlife) stated: “Ironically, with few exceptions, the only way to ensure protection of a water right that's not being used is to place it into the state trust!” Having the state documenting the beneficial uses described in # 2 gives the water right owner greater protection than private use.
    
In the event of a prolonged dry spell, having water rights would not matter if there were no water available!
Doe Bay Water Users holds the most junior rights in this watershed, so they are the most vulnerable in a drought.
Click on this link for more details on the water rights affecting Cascade Creek and Mountain Lake, or here for water rights affecting Cascade Lake.

The option described above would retain hundreds of acre ft of additional water in Mountain Lake through a dry summer. In the event of a multi-year drought, this may make the difference between having, and not having drinking water for Rosario (and others). It would be a shame to have a water crisis, and then look back and wish that the water were still up in Mountain Lake, rather than in the ocean while muttering <expletive deleted>.
Click here to see how this plan would postpone the "time to dry taps" for by one year or more.
The first affected would be Doe Bay's junior rights, next would be Moran Park, followed by Olga, then Rosaio (and Eastsound, if the proposed plans develop.)

There may be funds available to compensate Rosario for the temporary loss of the hydroelectric capacity and providing the benefits to the community and habitat described above.

It has taken some time to get an understanding of what options are available, but if the details are worked out, this plan could have significant benefit to Rosario and others with interests in the water levels in Mountain Lake and Cascade Lake. The good news is similar plans have already been put into action with the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. They can provide documentation and examples of how this has worked in other cases.

This conservation plan was presented to the East Orcas Water Supply committee in the spring of 2005, but there was no interest.

Thanks to Perry Harvester for his help in developing the option presented here.
Comments, corrections and improvements to this plan are invited.

Draft Reports of Examination for Northwest
Final Reports of Examination for Northwest
Extension of Time on Water Rights for Northwest

Diagram of water flow from Mountain Lake to Cascade Creek and Cascade Lake
East Orcas Watershed Planning
Olga Water Users Inc. home page

These pages are intended to include relevant public information for the benefit of those who care about these remarkable watersheds on Orcas  Island. The ideas and opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the policies, procedures or opinions of  Olga Water Users Inc. or it's board. My thanks to Olga Water Users for allowing this to be posted under their web site.

If you have information to add, or corrections,  please call Sandy Taylor at 376 3815.
Or email:
 

I hope this information useful to the community.

Last updated Feb 7, 2005

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional