404 



still pay only ,5 mills, or $480,104, for 960,208,400 kWh of 

 project pumping power now worth over $25,000,000 at BPA's 1993 

 Priority Firm Preference rate of 26.79 mills. This latter energy 

 subsidy is reflected in the extremely low price paid by irrigators 

 for water on the Columbia Basin Project and provides a disincentive 

 to water conservation on projects now served by Reclamation's 

 withdrawal of 2.8 million acre feet at Grand Coulee. 



Roughly 7 million acres are irrigated from the Columbia River and 

 its tributaries. On an average, 5 acre-feet are withdrawn annually, 

 of which 2 acre-feet are lost — mainly to the atmosphere. I.e., 

 35 million acre-feet (MAF) are diverted, and close to 14 MAF are 

 depleted: i.e., lost, or consumed by crop production. In late 1992 

 SPA roughly estimated the hydropower value of irrigation's 

 depletions of 14 MAF at over $200,000,000 annually on the basis of 

 $25/MW-hr for firm energy. 



Potential Recaptvire of Irrigation Hater for Hydropower Production 



BPA has no reliable estimates of the amount of lost hydropower 

 attributable to irrigation's depletions and diversions which can 

 feasibly be recaptured either through the various conservation 

 measures available in the conveyance and application of irrigation 

 water, or through leased or purchased acquisitions. Based on 

 recent studies, it is known that only 65% of diversions reach the 

 fields while 35% is lost to either evapotranspiration, direct 

 evaporation, or returns to the river. Once the water reaches the 

 field, crops use 35% and 20% is lost to nonbenef icial consumption. 

 The remaining 10% joins return flows totalling 45% of the total 

 diversion.' Thus 20% of the total diversion of 35 MAF, or 7 MAF 

 is lost to nonbenef icial consumption. 



While the value of the 7 MAF wasted in nonbenef icial consumption 

 may be a theoretical $100,000,000 at $25/MW-hr for firm energy, the 

 actual hydropower value of the recaptured water would be greatly 

 influenced by the elevation of the point of diversion at which the 

 conserved water is recaptured. E.g., 1 MAF recaptured in the Upper 

 Snake would be worth ten times as much as 1 MAF recaptured at the 

 John Day in the Lower Columbia. Water recaptured from the Bureau 

 of Reclamation project at Grand Coulee would be worth nearly 4 

 times as much as in the Lower Columbia. E>g>/ applying an 

 incremental cost rate of 60.64 mills/KWH to a conservation-induced 

 reduction of 20% in Reclamation's annual diversion of 2.8 MAF at 

 Grand Coulee Dam, the value of hydropower production recaptured 

 would exceed $20,000,000 annually. Comparable reductions in 

 diversions from the Lower Columbia above John Day would yield only 



' 1990 LEVEL MODIFIED STREAMFLOW 1928-1989; Diversion and 

 Return Flow Patterns, Summation of Depletion Adjustments, 

 Evaporation Adjustments and 1990 Level Modified Streamflow. Pg. 9, 

 January 1993. 



