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ay From Forest to Faucet: Priority for healthy watersheds

Albert H. Todd , Executive Director

Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay

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If you invented a BMP that would optimize watershed

protection …

it would look like a forest!

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“... our runs dry up… several which would turn a mill are now scarce

sufficient for the farm. The reason is this, when the country was covered with

woods, the rain that fell was detained and had time to insinuate into the earth and contribute to our springs. But now the country is cleared and the rain as fast as it falls is hurried into our creeks and washes away the

soil...and hence creeks told by Mr. Penn to be navigable are no longer so”

from “Agriculture and County Life, 1753

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“With the disappearance of the forest, all is changed”

George Perkins Marsh, 1864, from “Man and Nature”

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Measures of Watershed healthMeasures of Watershed health**

Intercepts and stores rainfallModerates runoff & stream

flow Retains & recycles nutrientsSoils protected from erosionSupports healthy aquatic

systems Has capacity for self-repair

*Forests, water and climate change, USDA Forest Service 2008

A healthy watershed…

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cycle”

Forests intercept, store, clean, and

regulate the flow of water

Source: Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working

Group, 1998

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ay Watershed health is linked to forests…

Extent - amount of forest in watershed

Location - “critical” forests Riparian forests & wet woods/wetlands Steep slopes, erodible soils, urban tree cover

Condition - age, growth, health, etc.

Stewardship – ownership/management

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I don’t have any information on this bit!

How we get water in our homes…

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ay From the forest to the faucet…

• Why do we care?• Forested watersheds supply over

150 million people with drinking water nationally, 12 million in Bay watershed

• Lost forest means increased treatment costs and risk of contamination

• Concerns for the by-products of chemical treatment

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1. Identify areas important to provision of quality surface drinking water supply

2. Understand the role of forests in protecting those surface drinking water

3. Identify threats that could affect forests future ability to protect drinking

Analysis ObjectivesAnalysis Objectives

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ayLimitsLimits

• Surface water intakes only not groundwater wells (make direct quality connection)

Source: Surface water intakes, EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS)

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• Sub-watersheds = 12-digit HUC, lt blue lines

• > 88,000 HUCs

• Ave. size = 35 sq mi

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• What is the relative importance of each sub-watershed in providing surface drinking water? • Water Yield• Population served• Distance to intake

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Water Importance Index: water

protection risk model

PRn = P0 + ∑ (Wi * Pi)

Pi = the population served by intakes in the ith downstream sub-watershed,

Wi = the proportional weight for ith downstream sub-watershed

Alli

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weighting by water supply

mean annual water supply

mean annual water supply

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areas of surface drinking water importance (weighted by mean annual water supply)

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Alli

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• To what extent do forests protect important watersheds for surface drinking water? • All forests• Private forests• All protected forests

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the extent to which all forests are currently protecting areas of surface drinking water importance.

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the extent to which private forests are currently protecting areas of surface drinking water importance.

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Step 3: Threats facing forests important for surface drinking water

• To what extent do development, fire, and insects and disease threaten forests important to surface drinking water supply?

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% of each sub-watershed expected to increase housing development in forested areas between 2000 and 2030 (Theobald)

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Moderate Importance in coastal plain

Distribution of systems – small and medium sized supplies

Diversity of run of the river

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Top 25% highest ranked watersheds

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How is this information be used?

• Decision Making systems

• Evaluate impacts from land development

• Prioritize land protection

• Target local government/utility outreach

• Identify opportunities for payment systems

• Link with aquatic system & water quality goals

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Impact of Forest Cover on Chemical Treatment Costs

$0.00

$50.00

$100.00

$150.00

$200.00

$250.00

0 20 40 60 80 100

Percent Forest in Drainage Area

Chem

ical c

ost/M

G

A 10% decline in forest cover leads to an $8-12 increase in

chemical costs per million gallons of water treated.

E.g. 26 MGD ($10) = 228.8 (365) = $ 95,000/yr

Or …

For every 10% decline in forest cover, there may be a 8-20%

increase in treatment costs. May be higher when other costs like

energy are added.

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Putting a value on water payment for watershed services

• Consumer demand/willingness to pay

• A clear connection between forest and drinking water

• Future threat avoided or averted through management or protection

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Examples of source water protection/drinking water

payments for watershed services programs

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• Supply for 6+ million people

• Threat of regulation or protection of forests and agricultural lands

• Avoid $7+ billion investment

• $50 million/year in conservation vs. $300+ million/year in operating costs

• Enhanced services model

NYC Watershed

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aySebago Watershed, Portland Water District

• Portland, Maine

• Water supply for 200,000 residents

• 92% of 282,000-acre watershed unprotected

• PWD recently approved program to spend $225K annually for forest easements

• Goal: double protected acreage over next ten years

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• 2.5 + million people

• Colorado Front Range

• Fires result in floods and erosion -damaged treatment and storage facilities ($27 million)

• $25 million fund ($27 per household for 5 years – matched by USFS)

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Sante Fe, NM

• City of Sante Fe, Watershed Association, TNC, USFS

• Prevent wildfire damage

• Forest thinning 17,000 acres

• 20-year 6.2 million plan - $6.50 per household per year

• $43.5 million in avoided costs in provisioning/regulating services

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Common Waters Partnership

• Delaware River Basin

• PIC and US Endowment

• Priority conservation areas.

• Finance forest conservation & management practices for water quality

• Seeking donations from water users

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Upper Neuse River Basins, NC

• Partners: Land trusts, water utilities of Raleigh and Durham

• Declining water quality

• Land acquisition & easements, BMPs, riparian buffers

• Raleigh and Durham raised $10 M in “nutrient impact fees” and increased water rates

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• Longest Running PWS programs

• National Programs in Costa Rica, Mexico, & Ecuador

• 5.7 Million Acres - $31M for Watershed Conservation

• Drinking Water, industry, and Hydropower partners

Costa Rica

Mexico

Equador

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Ecuador - Quito Region

• Water Conservation Trust fund

• Water tariff /user fee(1 cent /m3) on water use or water dependent goods

• Land acquisition, management practices in 1.3 million acre area.

• Landowners receive enhanced support for improved management not cash payments.

Antisana Volcano – Nicole Balloffet

Quito, Ecuador - David Berkowitz ©©

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"A town is saved, not more by the righteous citizens within it, than by

the woods that surround it..." 

-Henry David Thoreau, 1862

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Albert H. Todd, Executive Directoratodd@allianceforthebay.org

Questions?

Data and tools available at:

www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/