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<br />~~~ <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />., <br />'"I <br /> <br />Water Quality below Glen Canyon Dam - Water Year 2000 <br /> <br />, <br />., <br />'; <br /> <br />DRAFT <br /> <br />William S. Vemieu <br />Grand Canyon Monitoring and Reasearch Center <br />October 25, 2000 <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />The purpose of this report is to present information collected during the past year by the <br />Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) Integrated Water Quality <br />Program (IWQP) to inform stakeholders, scientists, and the general public on conditions <br />in Grand Canyon related to the operation of Glen Canyon Dam. <br /> <br />The IWQP is designed to respond to several Information Needs developed by the Grand <br />Canyon Adaptive Management Program Technical Work Group (TWG) to accomplish a <br />series of Management Objectives for the operation of Glen Canyon Dam. The IWQP <br />directly addresses information needs for chemical concentrations, nutrient levels, and <br />water temperature patterns in releases from normal dam operations and TCD operations. <br />This information can further be used to support evaluation of the effects of these <br />operations on the aquatic food base, trout populations, native fish survival, parasites and <br />disease organisms, interactions between native and non-native fish, aquatic food base to <br />Lake Mead, and effects to reservoir limnology and heat budgets, <br /> <br />Because the downstream components of the IWQP are conducted below Glen Canyon <br />Dam and directly address resources downstream of the dam, they are supported entirely <br />by the Grand Canyon Adaptive Management Program. Activities upstream of Glen <br />Canyon Dam are currently supported by Bureau of Reclamation Operation and <br />Maintenance funds. <br /> <br />',~. <br />.\~ <br /> <br />. I <br />'. ! <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />Continuous Tai/water Monitoring <br /> <br />. -~ <br /> <br />The objective of the tailwater monitoring program is to characterize the quality of water <br />released from Glen Canyon Dam and measure changes occurring in the tailwater below <br />Glen Canyon Dam. These conditions are the result of short-term and long-term <br />climatological and hydrological processes in the Colorado River basin, advective and <br />convective mixing processes within Lake Powell, and the operation of Glen Canyon <br />Dam, The water quality of Glen Canyon Dam releases forms a baseline from which <br />changes occur downstream, directly affecting the aquatic ecosystem. A twelve-year <br />period of record exists for these data. <br /> <br />~'~: I <br /> <br />.',>. <br /> <br />Methods <br /> <br />The primary instrumentation used for this monitoring program are Hydrolab Recorders, <br />multi-parameter sondes capable of submersible measurement of temperature, specific <br />conductance, pH, and dissolved oxygen and logging these readings at specified intervals. <br /> <br />10/25/00 <br /> <br />DRAFT <br />