Effects of Flaming Gorge Dam hydropower operations on flow and stage in the Green River, Utah and Colorado
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Environmental Assessment Div.
- Western Area Power Administration, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
This report presents the development of Flaming Gorge Reservoir release patterns and resulting downstream flows and stages for four potential hydropower operational scenarios. The release patterns were developed for three representative hydrologic years: moderate, dry, and wet. Computer models were used to estimate flows and stages in the Green River resulting from these release patterns for the moderate water year. The four hydropower operational scenarios for Flaming Gorge Dam were year-round high fluctuating flows, seasonally adjusted high fluctuating flows, seasonally adjusted moderate fluctuating flows, and seasonally adjusted steady flows. The year-round high fluctuating flow scenario assumes that the monthly total reservoir releases would be the same as historical releases. The remaining seasonally adjusted flow scenarios would comply with the 1992 Biological Opinion of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which requires high flows in the spring and limited hourly fluctuations, especially in summer and autumn releases, to protect endangered fish. Within one year, the maximum daily river stage fluctuations resulting from hydropower operations under the seasonally adjusted high fluctuating flow scenario would be similar to the maximum daily fluctuations under the year-round high fluctuating flow scenario. However, reduced or no fluctuations would occur in some time periods under the former scenario. The maximum daily river stage fluctuations under the seasonally adjusted moderate fluctuating flow scenario would be about half of those under the seasonally adjusted high fluctuating flow scenario.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 87016
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/EAD/TM-4; ON: DE95015177; TRN: 95:017377
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: May 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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