Thompson Okanagan Region
Drought Response
Implementation Plan
By Richard McCleary, Phil Belliveau, Christian St. Pierre
VERSION 1: Modified June 26, 2015
Contents
1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
2
Area of the plan ....................................................................................................................... 1
3
Drought Team Member Roles and Responsibilities ................................................................ 4
4
Drought Assessment and Response ........................................................................................ 5
5
4.1
Step 1 – Collect Drought Information .............................................................................. 5
4.2
Step 2 – Evaluate General Drought Information.............................................................. 5
4.3
Step 3 – Collect Detailed Drought Information................................................................ 5
4.4
Step 4 – Evaluate Detailed Information and Assign Drought Levels ................................ 6
4.5
Step 5 – Implement Stream Specific Response including Water Restrictions ................. 7
4.6
Step 6 – Monitor Regulatory Compliance and Effectiveness ........................................... 7
Communication ....................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix 1. Definitions......................................................................................................... 9
Appendix 2. Additional information required for watch list streams ................................ 10
Appendix 3. Regional Drought Response team members for 2015 ................................... 11
Appendix 4. Flow chart showing the drought assessment and response process ............. 12
Appendix 5. Relevant Legislation – Flow Regulation .......................................................... 13
i
1 Introduction
Drought is defined as an extended period with a deficient water supply. Many streams in the
Thompson-Okanagan region are flow sensitive in the summer period and may commonly be in
a drought state, particularly when subject to withdrawal. During times of scarcity, conflicts
relating to water use include those between licenced users and also those that arise from
insufficient water to meet the combined licenced demand and environmental needs. To
appropriately address and reduce drought-related impacts, it is imperative for water managers
to anticipate, plan and mitigate for drought. This document was developed by the Ministry of
Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Thompson Okanagan Region (TOR) to help
managers assess and respond to worsening drought conditions. It outlines a proactive
approach to resolving conflicts during times of water scarcity. This plan is complimentary to the
Provincial Drought Response Plan (2015).
2 Area of the plan
This Drought Response Implementation Plan applies throughout the FLNRO ThompsonOkanagan Region (Figure 1) and within specific water precincts that occur within the Cariboo
and the Kootenay Boundary region that are administered by the Thompson Okanagan Region.
Figure 1. Map of water management precincts within Cascades, Okanagan Shuswap, and Thompson Rivers Districts.
1
The plan will be implemented across the region within the three Natural Resource Districts. .
For all districts, a priority list of flow sensitive streams has been developed to guide monitoring
activities during the drought season (July through September). This group of prioritized
streams is the “Watch List”. As geography and water management activities are specific to
individual basins, the response to drought conditions will vary between streams. Water
management response options appropriate to each drought level will be identified for each
stream on the Watch List.
The two main categories of streams on the Watch List include streams with Water Survey
Canada (WSC) automated real-time data (Table 1), and streams where manual streamflow
measurements will be required (Table 2). A set of hydrological descriptors for each stream on
the list will be developed to help place the reported discharge measurement from any given
date into context (Appendix 2).
Table 1. Water Survey of Canada real-time gauging station locations that can be used to assess drought level.
Station Name
Tulameen River Below Vuich Creek
Whiteman Creek Above Bouleau Creek
Pennask Creek Near Quilchena
Coldstream Creek Above Municipal Intake
Coldwater River Near Brookmere
Camp Creek At Mouth Near Thirsk
Vaseux Creek Above Solco Creek
Two Forty-One Creek Near Penticton
Chase Creek Above The Mouth
Salmon River At Falkland
Salmon River Near Salmon Arm
Bonaparte River Below Cache Creek
Nicola River At Outlet Of Nicola Lake
Nicola River Above Nicola Lake
Granby River At Grand Forks
West Kettle River At Westbridge
Kettle River Near Westbridge
Mission Creek Near East Kelowna
Similkameen River At Princeton
Tulameen River At Princeton
Coldwater River At Merritt
Nicola River Near Spences Bridge
Similkameen River Near Hedley
Inkaneep Creek Near The Mouth
Shatford Creek Near Penticton
Trepanier Creek Near Peachland
Count
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Station
Number
08NL071
08NM174
08LG016
08NM142
08LG048
08NM134
08NM171
08NM241
08LE112
08LE020
08LE021
08LF002
08LG065
08LG049
08NN002
08NN003
08NN026
08NM116
08NL007
08NL024
08LG010
08LG006
08NL038
08NM200
08NM037
08NM041
Flow Type
Natural
Natural
Natural
Natural
Natural
Natural
Natural
Natural
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
Regulated
District
Cascades
Okanagan Shuswap
Cascades
Okanagan Shuswap
Cascades
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Cascades
Cascades
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Cascades
Cascades
Cascades
Cascades
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Precinct Name
Tulameen
Vernon
Upper Nicola
Okanagan Centre
Merritt
Summerland
Fairview
Penticton
Ducks
Grand Prairie
Grand Prairie
Bonaparte
Lower Nicola
Upper Nicola
Grand Forks
Westbridge
Westbridge
Kelowna
Princeton
Princeton
Merritt
Spences Bridge
Hedley
Fairview
Penticton
Peachland
2
Streams requiring manual flow monitoring include those that have been monitored on previous
drought circuits (e.g., Doyle 2004 and Nyhof 1988), those identified as having water demand
levels that can pose a high risk to environmental values, reference streams, and those that have
been identified by Water Officers as streams prone to conflict. Although this list of streams is
lengthy, not all streams require regular measurement. With input from Fisheries Biologists,
Water Officers, Provincial Instream Flow Specialist(s), water users and members of the public, a
subset of streams of concern will be identified. This list will be periodically updated throughout
the drought season.
For each stream, the Regional Specialists will pre-determine the specific locations for measuring
stream flow, water level, water temperature and fish habitat condition (e.g., riffle depth).
Table 2. Candidate watch list streams requiring manual measurement (this table needs additional information).
Stream Name
Canoe Cr
East Canoe Cr
Monte Cr
Lemieux
Cache Cr
Louis Cr
Clapperton Cr
Guichon Cr
Tranquille Cr
Deadman Cr
Barriere River
Raft River
Mann Cr
Harper Cr
Quilchena Cr
Palmer Cr
Hat Cr
Arrowstone Cr
Allison
Summers
Bessette
Duteau
Creighten
Ashton
Brash
Fortune
Blurton
Trinity
Gardom
Falls Cr
Middle Vernon
Trout
Count
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
District
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Cascades
Cascades
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Cascades
Okanagan Shuswap
Thompson Rivers
Thompson Rivers
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Okanagan Shuswap
Station no
08LE004
08LE108
08LE013
08LB078
08LF004
08LB072
08LG015
08LG067
08LF024
08LF027
08LB020
08LB017
08LB050
08LB076
08LG017
08LE072
08LF015
08LF099
08NL012
08NL019
08LC042
08LC006
08LC033
08LC004
08LC035
08LC025
08LC050
08LC036
08NM043
08NM158
3
3 Drought Team Member Roles and Responsibilities
The plan is built around a core team of Regional Specialists and District Water Officers who will
respond to drought conditions across the Region (Table 2). Each member of the team has a set
role with different responsibilities that contribute to the main functions of collecting flow
information, setting the drought level, regulating flow during times of scarcity, communication,
and follow-up monitoring. The team membership will be determined each spring so team
members can properly prepare for the late summer drought season (see 2015 team in
Appendix 3).
Table 2. Regional Drought Response Team roles and responsibilities.
Role
Team Lead



Regional Specialist –
Hydrologist
Regional Specialist –
Agriculture
Regional Specialist –
Aquatic Ecology







District Water Officers





Responsibilities
Coordinates Regional Drought
Response team
Liaise with Regional Water Managers
and Provincial drought working group
Communicate streamflow status and
regulation decisions to appropriate
management level
Hydrological guidance
Review drought level assignment
Provides agriculture perspective
Evaluates economic consequences of
response actions
Co-leads stakeholder communication
Assigning drought level based on
reported flows
Evaluating environmental
consequences
Provides stream flow training
Coordinates collection of streamflow
measurements from Watch List
streams in district.
Applies first in time, first in rights
(FITFIR) protocol when necessary.
Co-leads Stakeholder communication
(identify best approach to
communicate with licensees).
Support other districts as required.
Business Centre
FLNRO Ecosystems
FLNRO Regional Ops
Agriculture – Business
Development Div.
FLNRO Ecosystems
FLNRO –Thompson
Okanagan Region Resource
Districts
 Cascades
 Okanagan Shuswap
 Thompson Rivers
Other people as required
4
Given that drought conditions will likely develop unequally across the region due to highly
varied terrestrial ecoregions, members of the drought response team will address priority
actions across the entire region and will not be restricted by district boundaries; rather a
pooled resource approach will be followed.
4 Drought Assessment and Response
The first step in the assessment process is to evaluate core drought indicators to determine at a
broad level whether a drought is likely to occur. This is done by the Provincial River Forecasting
Center Core which provides monthly regional synopses of drought forecasts. If there is a high
likelihood of drought in the Thompson Okanagan, the regional drought team will be convened
by the Team Lead no later than mid-May, and the assessment and response procedure will be
initiated. There are six steps in the drought assessment and response procedure that are
repeated as required throughout the drought season. These steps are described in more detail
below and summarized in a flow chart in 5Appendix 4. Throughout the process, there is a
regular exchange of information between the Regional Specialists and the Water Officers from
the three Natural Resource Districts in the region. As the drought level escalates, this exchange
will intensify and ratings will become more stream specific.
4.1 Step 1 – Collect Drought Information
Information on stream flow from a variety of sources will be collected by the Regional
Specialists to evaluate drought conditions. The main information source will be the Water
Survey of Canada (WSC) real-time stations of interest. This verified data will be supplemented
through field observations by Water Officers and through other sources. Pre-drought work will
include locating older WSC stations, arranging access, establishing stage references (e.g., staff
gauges), and determining transect locations for discharge measurement. This information will
be shared with those members of the drought team who will be measuring flows using
appropriate devices (meters, Parshall flumes).
4.2 Step 2 – Evaluate General Drought Information
General information such as WSC data will be screened by the Regional Specialists to determine
reliability. Additional information in locations of interest will be requested from the WSC. All
WSC real-time data is initially published as provisional and requires screening. Depending on
the screening results, field confirmation may be required. The Regional Specialists will identify
target streams on the Watch List for detailed flow monitoring.
4.3 Step 3 – Collect Detailed Drought Information
Water Officers will collect streamflow information at locations pre-determined by the FLNRO
Regional Specialists on each target stream. At each location, the officer will record water depth
at a pre-determined reference point and measure discharge at a predetermined cross-section.
5
Measurements and photos will be collected in a standard format and forwarded to the FLNRO
Regional Specialists. During the field visit, additional aquatic habitat information will be
collected including habitat connectivity, water temperature and riffle depth/velocity. A field
manual will be developed to describe standards for reporting stream flow levels based on
ecological consequences. Monitoring will be conducted on a circuit basis. Scheduling and
resourcing for operating the circuit is an important planning consideration.
4.4 Step 4 – Evaluate Detailed Information and Assign Drought Levels
Stream flow information is evaluated by the Regional Specialists who then default to the
criteria in the Provincial Drought Response Plan for setting drought levels (Table 3). The response
targets from the Provincial plan are designed to apply during summer base flow conditions (see
Appendix 1 for definition). Drought response can also be important during other times of the
year such as spring freshet, especially for reservoir management (filling and releasing);
however, percentile flow thresholds targets do not apply to those circumstances.
Table 3. Flow thresholds from the Provincial Drought Management Plan (based on 7 day average flows).
Drought Level
Flow Conditions
Level 1 – Green 1. Greater than > 25th percentile (> 1 in 4 year low flow)
Level 2 – Yellow 2. 11 – 25th percentile (between 1 in 10 and 1 in 4 year low
flow)
Level 3 – Orange3. 6 – 10th percentile (between 1 in 20 and 1 in 10 year low
flow)
Level 4 – Red 4. < 6th percentile (1 in 20 year low flow or below)
As drought conditions escalate, response measures will follow a continuum, intensifying as
conditions worsen (see flow chart in Appendix 4). Consistent with the Provincial protocol,
compliance with measures will be voluntary from Level 1 through Level 3. Drought condition
and target water use reductions will be communicated to stakeholders by District Water
Officers and the Regional Agriculture Specialist. As drought conditions escalate, drought ratings
and water use reduction measures will become stream specific. When the drought conditions
reach Level 4, water reductions may shift from voluntary request to regulatory order,
depending on the level of compliance met with the voluntary measures and on the fisheries
values in jeopardy. Regulatory tools include enforcing fish clauses within water licenses,
applying FITFIR, or implementing Section 9 of the Fish Protection Act. At Level 4, the drought
response team, led by the Regional Specialists, will prepare a stream specific impact assessment
including a list of fish stocks and life stages at risk from the drought and the economic and
social consequences of regulatory measures that are recommended to address low flow. The
6
team lead will communicate the assessment and regulatory recommendations to the
appropriate water manager (and possibly the Regional Management Team) for a decision.
As drought conditions escalate, drought information will also be shared with Provincial and
Federal recreational fisheries managers to allow them to implement regulatory actions such as
fishing closures to address drought related concerns (eg, fish stranding, heat stress).
4.5 Step 5 – Implement Stream Specific Response including Water
Restrictions
The Water Officers will implement the approved drought response actions and follow a
communication plan that outlines how drought level information and response actions will be
conveyed to the different user groups and stakeholders.
4.6 Step 6 – Monitor Regulatory Compliance and Effectiveness
For each regulatory restriction, the Regional Specialists will develop a stream specific plan to
monitor streamflow. District Water Officers will implement these plans, monitor compliance
with the regulatory restrictions, and evaluate to what degree the restrictions are improving
stream flow. The Water Officers will work cooperatively with the Regional Specialists to
determine when restrictions can be lifted.
5 Communication
Successful implementation of response actions is contingent upon effective communication
with stakeholders, decision makers and local communities. While all members of the
Thompson Okanagan Region Drought Response Team will be responsible for communication,
there will be more reliance on the Team Lead, Agriculture Specialist and District Water Officers
to deliver key, timely messages to the appropriate audiences. Specific roles are as follows:
1. Team Lead – regularly communicate with TOR Regional Water Managers team, TOR
Regional Management Team, Regional Executive and with Provincial Drought Technical
Working Group. Communicate management and executive direction to the drought
response team.
2. Agriculture Specialist – communicate changes in drought condition and corresponding
response actions to agriculture community licensee and stakeholders.
3. District Water Officers – communicate changes in drought condition and corresponding
actions with district manager and district water licensees.
Drought condition and target water use reductions will be communicated to stakeholders.
District Water Officers and the Regional Agriculture Specialist will coordinate this action, with
support from the Team Lead and Regional Specialists as required.
7
Communication tools include press release through formal government communication, letters
to licensees, local radio, internet, Facebook, email, word of mouth, local news reports, drought
board, and local bulletins. As well, associations like the Salmon River and Nicola River Round
Tables and the BC Cattleman’s Association will be contacted to help communicate drought
related information. As drought conditions escalated across the region, other FLNR resources
may be called upon to assist with communication.
8
Appendix 1. Definitions
“summer baseflow” – the lowest monthly flow during the summer irrigation season (July –
September) for each year, geometric mean (1 in 2 year frequency), over the period of record
(Table 4).
Table 4. Example calculation of summer baseflow.
Year
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
Mean
Max
Min
Monthly flow (l/s)
Jul
Aug
Sep
Summer
baseflow (l/s)
419
1150
257
673
625
1200
226
277
136
236
327
291
350
216
92
225
312
200
226
216
92
225
312
200
721
249
233
200
1200
257
327
136
350
92
312
92
Water Act
"officer" means
(a) a person or class of persons employed by the government or a government
corporation and designated in writing by the comptroller as an officer, or
(b) a conservation officer defined in section 1 (1) of the Environmental Management
Act;
"order" includes a decision or direction, whether given in writing or otherwise;
"regulate" includes allow, commence, stop, limit, open, shut and prohibit;
Water Sustainability Act
"critical environmental flow threshold", in relation to the flow of water in a stream, means the
volume of water flow below which significant or irreversible harm to the aquatic ecosystem of
the stream is likely to occur;
9
Appendix 2. Additional information required for watch list streams
Table 5. Field names, definitions and sources of information from Watch List streams.
Field Name
Date
Discharge
Percentile flow
Drainage area
Error
QC
Corrected
discharge
Quartile
Long-term Mean
Annual Discharge
(LT MAD)
Average summer
baseflow (% LT
MAD)
Percent LT MAD
Definition
Date of flow
Flow rate in cubic meters per second.
Indicates the percentage of historic flows on the
date of interest that are lower than the observed
flow
The size of the watershed
Error between predicted and measured flow at last
WSC streamflow measurement
Quality control: whether the discharge is a pass,
fail, or requires correction
The adjusted value as required by QC
Source
WSC website
http://watermonitor.
gov/naww/index.php
WSC website
WSC website
Assessed by Regional
Team
Calculated by
Regional Team
WSC website
The distribution of flow records has four quartiles
that are bounded by: (1) the minimum value; (2)
the mid-point between the minimum value and the
median value; (3) the median value; (4), the midpoint between the median value and maximum
value; and (5) the maximum value.
The average flow for each year averaged over the
HYDAT, Hydromaster
period of record
The minimum monthly flow through the summer
season (e.g., July – Sept.), average for the period of
record expressed as a percentage of MAD.
The discharge for the date of interest expressed as
% LT MAD.
WSC, Hydromaster
Calculated ratio
10
Appendix 3. Regional Drought Response team members for 2015
Table 6. List of 2015 Drought Team Members
Name
Phil Belliveau
Bruce McFarlane
Andrew Petersen
Rich McCleary
Christian St.
Pierre
Kim DeRose
Patrick Farmer
Colleen Dreger
Murray Allison
Ray Reilly
Dale Richter
Affiliation
FLNRO Ecosystems
FLNRO Regional
Operations Division
Agriculture – Business
Development Division
FLNRO Ecosystems
FLNRO Ecosystems
FLNRO Regional Ops Cascades
FLNRO Regional Ops Cascades
FLNRO Regional Ops –
Thompson Rivers
FLNRO Regional Ops –
Thompson Rivers
FLNRO Regional Ops –
Okanagan Shuswap
FLNRO Regional Ops –
Okanagan Shuswap
Role
Team Lead
Regional Specialist –
Hydrologist
Regional Specialist –
Agriculture
Regional Specialist –
Aquatic Ecology
Regional Specialist –
Aquatic Ecology
District Water Officer
District Water Officer
District Water Officer
District Water Officer
District Water Officer
District Water Officer
Other specialists
11
Appendix 4. Flow chart showing the drought assessment and response process
12
Appendix 5. Relevant Legislation – Flow Regulation
For a complete list of related legislation, see the British Columbia Drought Response Plan.
Highly relevant legislation includes the following:
Fish Protection Act – Sec. 9:
Temporary reduction may be ordered in cases of drought
9 (1) This section applies if the minister considers that, because of a drought, the flow of water
in a stream is or is likely to become so low that the survival of a population of fish in the stream
may be or may become threatened.
(2) In the circumstances referred to in subsection (1), for the purposes of protecting the fish
population, the minister may make temporary orders regulating the diversion, rate of diversion,
time of diversion, storage, time of storage and use of water from the stream by holders of
licences or approvals in relation to the stream, regardless of precedence under the Water Act.
(3) The minister may only make an order under subsection (2) after giving due consideration to
the needs of agricultural users.
Water Act – Sec. 15:
Precedence of licences on same stream
15 (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) and (3), the respective rights exercisable
under 2 licences authorizing the diversion of water from the same stream have precedence in
law according to the respective priorities of the dates from which the licences take precedence
as set out in them.
(2) The respective rights exercisable under 2 licences taking precedence from the same date
have precedence in law according to the ranking of the respective purposes for which water is
authorized to be used under the licences respectively, and the ranking of the several purposes
for which water may be used under licences are, from highest rank to lowest rank: domestic,
waterworks, mineral trading, irrigation, mining, industrial, power, hydraulicking, storage,
conservation, conveying and land improvement purposes.
(3) The rights exercisable under 2 licences taking precedence from the same date and
authorizing the diversion of water from the same stream for the same purpose have equal
precedence in law.
13