The California Environmental Flows Framework: A Holistic Functional Flows Approach to Instream Flow Determinations for the FERC Hydropower Relicensing Process
The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the Davis Campus
Recipient
Davis, CA
Recipient Location
3rd
Senate District
4th
Assembly District
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The research team is currently compiling a database of FERC relicensing information with details such as relicensing status, available gage data, and minimum flow requirements. This information is necessary to support understanding of FERC processes and relicensing project status, including the McCloud-Pit, and to apply the California Environmental Flows Framework (CEFF) within FERC relicensing.
The Issue
In the next 13 years, 50 FERC projects will be up for relicensing, and all will require a reduction of the ecological impact of operations. Hydropower relicensing efforts under FERC typically require many lengthy studies to understand the needs of different aquatic species and ecological conditions. Disagreements among these various study outcomes can prolong the relicensing process, delaying improved flow conditions for downstream aquatic species and habitats, and raising project costs. In addition, commonly used single species-focused studies typically fail to adequately support the long-term health of river ecosystems.
Although flow science has advanced understanding of ecological processes that sustain diverse aquatic communities and developed holistic environmental flow approaches to support ecological functioning, information on how to incorporate such approaches into the FERC relicensing process is lacking. In particular, CEFF has the potential to substantially simplify and improve the ecological assessment process for permitted facilities, but practitioners lack examples and instruction to enable them to use the approach and associated tools.
Project Innovation
This project will develop and provide resources for the application of Functional Flows via CEFF as a holistic approach to instream flow determinations within FERC relicensing to achieve improved ecological conditions downstream of hydropower projects. The focus on Functional Flows can produce flow schedules that are holistic and ecologically sound, improve efficiency in the relicensing process, and support river ecosystem resilience. The objectives of this project are to: 1) Assess recent FERC relicensing projects to inform development of methods for applying CEFF to instream flow determinations within the relicensing process, 2) Demonstrate application of CEFF within the ongoing McCloud-Pit Hydroelectric Project relicensing, and 3) Develop web resources to support application of CEFF for hydropower projects. The proposed project would provide the needed examples, methods, and tools to enable stakeholders to use functional flow metrics to quantify the functionality of instream flow determinations within the FERC relicensing process and align resulting flow schedules with environmental flow needs to achieve improved ecological outcomes.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This Agreement will result in benefits for ratepayers by streamlining the planning and study processes required as part of FERC relicensing. Under the current FERC relicensing process, an extensive and costly series of studies to assess ecosystem needs is often required. CEFF enables stakeholders to move forward with an established set of reference-based ecological flow criteria supportive of ecosystem processes in many cases, saving detailed site-specific studies for instances where the reference-based criteria are no longer relevant or more detailed information is critical. CEFF thus provides a more efficient approach to evaluating ecological conditions and needs, even as conditions may change over time.
Following completion of the project, the website and associated online resources will enable other relicensing stakeholders to more easily incorporate CEFF and functional flows into FERC relicensing projects. The existence of a clear and streamlined process, supported by scientifically-defensible datasets, will enable stakeholders and FERC practitioners to move through the relicensing process more easily and will help provide a shared baseline understanding of ecosystem flow needs. This streamlined process will ultimately also benefit ratepayers, as it efficiently using taxpayer funds to implement improved instream flow conditions more quickly and lowers the costs of relicensing.
Key Project Members
