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Projects
Water for Fish and Farms
| What: |
Innovative multi-year project to study the relationships among water use, stream flow, and local steelhead populations. One of the project’s main goals is to encourage collaboration between biologists and farmers in order to improve habitat for steelhead trout in Napa River tributaries. Additionally, the project provides real-time flow data, which is accessible via the web, for all water users along three major steelhead streams.
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| Where: |
Carneros, Redwood, and York Creeks |
| Why: |
This project addresses a critical question raised by several recent studies in the Napa River watershed: How do agricultural water diversions affect low flows in steelhead streams? This work will provide a greater scientific understanding of the relationship between water use and stream flow, and examines whether the timing of water withdrawals can be adjusted to benefit steelhead without adversely affecting water users. Low stream flow during spring and summer has been identified as one of the main limiting factors to the success of steelhead and salmon in Napa County. Most steelhead streams have agricultural and residential water withdrawals occurring at multiple points in their watersheds. Removing water from these streams when flows are critically low, especially during dry years, can have a detrimental effect on young steelhead, which need cool, well-oxygenated water to thrive. As streamflow decreases, water temperature generally increases, in turn causing the dissolved oxygen content of the water to decrease and creating stressful or lethal conditions for young steelhead. Additionally, macro-invertebrates (food for salmonids) become less abundant at lower flows, so juvenile growth can be stunted during extended dry periods. |
| Partners: |
CAL FED Watershed Program, CA Department of Water Resources |
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