Preventing Fish Mortality at a Large Pumped Storage Plant

A field study program was initiated at the Truman Project to obtain a better understanding of which fish species in the tailrace area would be most susceptible to turbine passage, determine what effect various reduced flow rates would have on the susceptibility of these fish to turbine passage, and estimate the level of mortality due to turbine passage. The ultimate goal of the study was to supply the data necessary to identify the potential effectiveness of the alternative fish protection systems. This paper presents a discussion of the design and operation of the alternative systems and summarizes the studies.