Feather River. On December 15, 2010, the SWRCB adopted, as Order WQ 2010-0016, a water quality certification for the Oroville Facilities, FERC # 2100, for the relicensing of the Oroville project by DWR. The water quality certification contains instream-flow and temperature-control requirements for the Feather River’s reaches downstream of DWR’s Oroville Dam. In general, the streamflow requirements adopted by the SWRCB in the certification are as follows. For the Low Flow Channel – which is the reach between DWR’s Fish Barrier Dam and the outlet of the Thermalito Afterbay – the certification requires that DWR release into that Channel 800 cfs from September 9 to March 31 of each water year to accommodate spawning anadromous fish and 700 cfs the remainder of the time, with both standards subject to possible revision as recommended by resource agencies under a settlement agreement signed by parties to DWR’s relicensing proceeding. The SWRCB’s Deputy Director for Water Rights would have to approve changes from the indicated streamflows for the Low Flow Channel. For the High Flow Channel – which is the reach between the Thermalito Afterbay’s outlet and the Feather River’s confluence with the Sacramento River – the certification applies the following instream-flow requirements, provided that they, along with project operations, are not projected to cause Oroville Reservoir to be drawn below elevation 733 feet (approximately 1,500,000 acre-feet of storage): Preceding April through July unimpaired runoff Minimum Flow in HFC October-February Minimum Flow in HFC March Minimum Flow in HFC April-September Percent of Normal 55% or greater 1,700 cfs 1,700 cfs 1,000 cfs Less than 55% 1,200 cfs 1,000 cfs 1,000 cfs Under the certification, if applying these requirements would be projected to cause Oroville Reservoir to be drawn below elevation 733 feet, then the minimum streamflows in the High Flow Channel could be reduced by the same percentage as State Water Project deliveries for agricultural use, provided that streamflows would not ever be reduced more than 25 percent below the requirements. In addition, if the highest one-hour streamflow between October 15 and November 30 were to exceed 2,500 cfs because of project operations and not a flood flow, then DWR is required to maintain a minimum flow within 500 cfs of the peak flow. The certification also contains complex terms that require DWR to operate the Oroville project to meet temperature standards in the Low Flow Channel and the H...
