Bluestone Phase 2 Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen Modeling Study

Abstract : The U.S. Army Engineer District, Huntington, is considering raising the pool 11 ft at Bluestone Lake and adding conventional hydropower to the project. The Huntington District requested assistance from the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station to determine the effects these changes would have on in-pool and release temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) of Bluestone Lake. CE-QUAL-W2, the Corps two-dimensional (laterally averaged) reservoir hydrodynamic and water quality model, was chosen to evaluate the effects. Because other water quality constituents were not modeled, DO was modeled in a simplified manner using a gross water column oxygen demand and a sediment oxygen demand. The model was calibrated and verified for a wet and dry hydrology. After calibration/verification, two scenarios were run looking at (a) raising the pool 11 ft only and (b) raising the pool and adding hydropower. Results indicate that Scenario 1 would cause changes in in-pool and release temperature and DO. Adding hydropower (Scenario 2) did not significantly affect in-pool and release temperature and DO results when compared with Scenario 1 results. Dissolved oxygen, Sediment oxygen demand, Water quality. Hydropower, Temperature, Modeling, Water column oxygen demand.