Regulatory Approaches for Addressing Dissolved Oxygen Concerns at Hydropower Facilities

Technical Report · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1218161· OSTI ID:1218161

Peterson, Mark J. ^[1]; Cada, Glenn F. ^[1]; Sale, Michael J. ^[1]; Eddlemon, Gerald K. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations are a common water quality problem downstream of hydropower facilities. At some facilities, structural improvements (e.g. installation of weir dams or aerating turbines) or operational changes (e.g., spilling water over the dam) can be made to improve DO levels. In other cases, structural and operational approaches are too costly for the project to implement or are likely to be of limited effectiveness. Despite improvements in overall water quality below dams in recent years, many hydropower projects are unable to meet state water quality standards for DO. Regulatory agencies in the U.S. are considering or implementing dramatic changes in their approach to protecting the quality of the Nation’s waters. New policies and initiatives have emphasized flexibility, increased collaboration and shared responsibility among all parties, and market-based, economic incentives. The use of new regulatory approaches may now be a viable option for addressing the DO problem at some hydropower facilities. This report summarizes some of the regulatory-related options available to hydropower projects, including negotiation of site-specific water quality criteria, use of biological monitoring, watershed-based strategies for the management of water quality, and watershed-based trading. Key decision points center on the health of the local biological communities and whether there are contributing impacts (i.e., other sources of low DO effluents) in the watershed. If the biological communities downstream of the hydropower project are healthy, negotiation for site-specific water quality standards or biocriteria (discharge performance criteria based on characteristics of the aquatic biota) might be pursued. If there are other effluent dischargers in the watershed that contribute to low DO problems, watershed-scale strategies and effluent trading may be effective. This report examines the value of regulatory approaches by reviewing their use in other

• Research Organization: US Department of Energy (USDOE), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
• OSTI ID: 1218161
• Report Number(s): DOE/ID--11071; 3774
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DO
agencies
agency
biocriteria
biological
biota
discharge
dissolved oxygen
downstream
effluent trading
health
monitoring
oxygen
policy
regulatory
standards
water quality
watershed