10.2190/HJNJ-H65D-EYPM-6WEC HJNJH65DEYPM6WEC 5 Development of Water Release Plans for Minimizing Fish Kills Below Tulsa District, Corps of Engineers Impoundments 353 366 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 HJNJH65DEYPM6WEC.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=HJNJH65DEYPM6WEC 4 Stephen L. Nolen John H. Carroll John N. Veenstra U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District Oklahoma State University, Stillwater Late summer fish kills comprised primarily of striped bass (<i>Morone saxatilis</i>) and associated with high water temperatures, low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) and fish entrapment occasionally occur in the tailwaters of Tulsa District, Corps of Engineers impoundments. In response to these kills, studies were initiated to develop means of using minimal water releases to consistently maintain adequate temperature and dissolved oxygen conditions for fish survival below these projects. Activities included the use of the computer model, SELECT, for the prediction of minimum required releases, followed by field verification of predicted release characteristics. Results of studies at two lakes are presented here. At Eufaula Lake, Oklahoma, release plans were developed for preventing tailwaters anoxia resulting from leakage of low DO waters through power penstocks. At Ft. Gibson Lake, Oklahoma, releases were used to prevent fish mortality caused by elevated water temperatures. In both instances, the SELECT model adequately predicted release characteristics and low level (approximately 0.7 m³/sec), continuous sluice releases were successfully used to prevent fish kills. C. C. Coutant, Thermal Preference: When Does an Asset Become a Liability? <i>Environmental Biological Fishes, 18</i>, pp. 161-172, 1987. C. C. Coutant, Striped Bass, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen: A Speculative Hypothesis for Environmental Risk, <i>Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 114</i>, pp. 31-61, 1985. J. E. Davis, et al., <i>SELECT: A Numerical, One-Dimensional Model for Selective Withdrawal, Instruction Report E-87-2</i>, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1987. E. C. Tsivoglou and J. R. Wallace, <i>Characterization of Stream Reaeration Capacity, EPA-R3-72-012</i>, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D. C., 1972. S. C. Wilhelms and D. R. Smith, <i>Reaeration Through Gated-Conduit Outlet Works, Technical Report E-81-5</i>, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1981. R. B. Sneed, Application of the SELCIDE Model in the Nashville District, in <i>Proceedings: CE Workshop on Reservoir Releases, Miscellaneous Paper E-87-3</i>, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1987. D. I. Findley and K. Day, Dissolved Oxygen Studies Below Walter F. George Dam, in <i>Proceedings: CE Workshop on Reservoir Releases, Miscellaneous Paper E-87-3</i>, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1987. H. M. Goranflo and J. S. Adams, Providing Minimum Flows Below Hydropower Projects, in <i>Proceedings: CE Workshop on Reservoir Releases, Miscellaneous Paper E-87-3</i>, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1987. S. C. Wilhelms and T. J. Furdek, Local Destratification System for Mark Twain Lake, in <i>Proceedings: CE Workshop on Reservoir Releases, Miscellaneous Paper E-87-3</i>, U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1987.