Laserfiche WebLink
<br />M2HO <br /> <br />Stream Temperatures <br /> <br />Presently there is .one steam-generating power plant in the Vampa River <br />basin. The plant is lecated at Hayden, Cole., and preduces about 150 MW (meg- <br />awatts) .of electrical power annually. Currently an expansion .of this plant (a <br />unit with a generating capacity .of 250 MW) is under censtructien. A new plant <br />at Craig, Cole., having twe generator units .of 380 MW each, Is also under con- <br />struction. The present plant at Hayden uses water frem the Vampa River fer <br />ceeling; this alse will be the case fer the plant under censtructien at Craig, <br /> <br />Although the Hayden pewer plant has discharged ceol ingwaters to the Vam- <br />pa River by way of a creek, starting In November 1975, a recycling evaporation- <br />pond system was scheduled te be in operatien, resulting in,no thermal wastes <br />discharging into the Vampa River (Robert Heard, oral commun" 1975). <br /> <br />Existing envirenmental controls which ferbid thermal discharges may be <br />medified in the future. Te help assess, the impact of possible thermal load- <br />ings on the Vampa River, a procedure developed by Bauer, Jobson, and Jennings <br />(1973) may be used. 'This precedure can pr.edict beth the dispersion and decay <br />.of a thermal waste. The model s imulateswater temperature in excess of the <br />nermal water temperature without the thermal leading fer a specified number .of <br />reaches belew the thermal-input source. <br /> <br />After calibration and verificatien have been cempleted, the model can be <br />used to preject other thermal loadings fer an expanded Hayden plant .or the <br />thermal effects .of the impending Craig plant. The results of this analysis <br />will be hypethetical because of deficiencies in existing plant data to cali- <br />brate the medel. <br /> <br />Trace Elements and Stream Biota <br /> <br />Stud les en trace-element content and st'ream biota, of the Vampa River, the <br />little Snake River, and major tributaries will be centinued. Results .of the <br />basinwide streamflow-recennaissance surv.ey (Steele and others, 1976) aided in <br />determ in i ng the select i en .of stream sites for quarte r 1 ysamp 1 i ng over a 12- <br />month period. <br /> <br />Concentrations of selected trace elements wi 11 be determined en filtered <br /><ami whole water samples teass,ess the distribution between dissolved and sus- <br />pended phases. Trace elements also will be determined .on the less than 21.0- <br />'micrcmetre size fraction of stream-bcttom sediments atsitEls where sediment <br />can .becollected. Details of the sp'ecific laboratery analyses are given in <br />Steel-e, Bauer, Wentz, and Warner (1976). <br /> <br />Peri phyten :and benth ic invertebrates wi 11 be ident i fled .during summer <br />low-flowcenditinns at the quarterly sampling sites. In addition" total num- <br />bers and total weight of .organisms w.illbe measured. These studies wi 11 be <br />coord,inated with a related project at Colorado State University (El izabeth <br />Ames" ora I cornmun., 1975), <br /> <br />Periphyton identification" biomass, and chlerophyll centent will be eval- <br />uated at all stations included in the DO-BOD medel ing effort, In addition, <br />benthic inverte:brates wi llbe sampled at these st'atiens.This effert, which <br /> <br />22 <br />