Work At Tenkiller Dam - Low Flow Pipe And Super Saturated Do System

[dgames]

I was one of about 10 people from the Tulsa TU chapter that went to a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday to celebrate work that was done at Tenkiller Dam to try to avoid more fish kills like we had 2 years ago. The following is a write-up I received from the Corps describing the project. I am proud to say that our TU Chapter played a significant role in making this happen I thought people here would be interested. I will try to post some pics as well if I can get the file size reduced enough.

Tenkiller Lake Downstream Trout Fisheries

Background

• Tenkiller Lake was congressionally authorized for flood control, water supply, hydropower, recreation, and fish and wildlife in 1938. The normal pool – the conservation pool – includes storage for water supply and for hydropower. All of Tenkiller Lake’s water supply storage has been contracted for and committed to various municipal and industrial water users, including communities, rural water districts, and others. In addition, Southwestern Power Administration utilizes the hydropower storage for hydropower generation. There is no storage allocated for the project purpose of recreation and fish and wildlife.
• During the summer 2011 drought, low dissolved oxygen levels and high water temperatures resulted in a fish kill of both non-native trout and native species of fish. Should similar conditions occur, it could cause another fish kill further adversely impacting the popular trout fishery below Tenkiller dam.
• Some releases from the dam are controlled by sluice gates. The seals on those gates deteriorated over time, causing leakage downstream. This provided a fresh flow of water that benefitted the dissolved oxygen levels, however, that leak was repaired in 2010.
• Although one of the congressionally-authorized purposes of Tenkiller Lake is for fish and wildlife, there is no water allocated in the lake for that purpose and all water storage is contracted to other users. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation relies on limited donated storage to release water for the fishery.
• Donated water of a little more than 12,000 cubic acres from Sequoyah County Fuels’ water supply allocation allowed ODWC to release water for the fishery. During the 2011 drought, that donated water was exhausted.
• As an interim measure, ODWC decided to stop stocking trout and Southwestern Power Administration, which manages hydropower generation at Tenkiller, began to do a little more generation than they had previously.
• The donated water storage from Sequoyah County Fuels is now no longer available as the company has relinquished their rights to the water. Other entities with contracted water storage have donated water to ODWC for the fishery.
• The Corps worked with state, federal, and other entities to explore possible solutions, resulting in an Interim Solution for the Tenkiller Downstream Trout Fishery Enhancement project until a more permanent solution can be found.

-More-

Interim Solution for the Tenkiller Downstream Trout Fishery Enhancement

• The interim solution is a two part mechanical approach that allows ODWC to better utilize its donated water for the benefit of the fishery.

• The first part is a Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen System that will target the stilling basin where the 2011 fish kill occurred. ODWC can operate the system when the dissolved oxygen level reaches critical lows in that area.

• The second part is a low flow pipe system that transports water from the surge tank at the hydropower plant to the stilling basin.

• Prior to the low flow pipe, there was one mechanism to release water for the trout fishery, and it had a minimum release of 150 cubic feet per second. At certain times, this was more water than ODWC wanted released. The low flow pipe allows ODWC to conserve the donated water by releasing as little as 50 cubic feet per second.

• In the past, when the gates were used for releases late in the day, the releases needed to continue until personnel arrived in the morning to close the gates. The low flow pipe will be controlled from the Fort Gibson powerhouse so releases can be changed around the clock.

• Several federal, state and local agencies, water supply entities, and private organizations were involved in this endeavor.

Other efforts underway

• Partnership efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District, ODWC, SWPA, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are underway to ensure the trout fishery remains a vital part of the local economy.

• The four agencies will devise and implement a plan to monitor conditions throughout the fishery downstream of the dam. The program will provide consistently measured data to allow for better decisions in managing the donated water available. ODWC has installed 13 monitors at various locations downstream of the dam and date is being gathered and analyzed.

• Temporary deviations that raise the conservation pool to allow for additional water are possible dependent upon the feasibility of such actions.

• A long-term solution would potentially involve a permanent reallocation of storage in the lake. The primary purpose of Tenkiller Lake is for flood control, so part of the storage space is designated, or allocated, for this use. Water storage space is designated for other uses as well. Within the conservation pool, there may be specific use allocations for other authorized purposes of that lake such as water supply and hydropower. At Tenkiller, although one of the authorized purposes is fish and wildlife, all of the water storage is allocated for other authorized uses. A reallocation could change the amount of water designated for certain uses and designate it for fish and wildlife. This action would require congressional authorization and funding, and would require a series of studies prior to execution.

[TheTugistheDrug]

Thanks for sharing. News could be much worse. Please post any future ways that come up to support long term solutions for the LIR.

Thanks!

[dgames]

Here is a link to a news story

http://www.newson6.com/story/22637912/corps-of-engineers

Low Flow Pipe Outlet

Water source for low flow pipe

DO system

[Bill Butts]

Hello Dgames!

Thanks very much for the awesome report of progress on the LIR water issue.

It is truly a beautiful thing to understand that so many gov't agencies are communicating and working together toward a common cause.

Great photos, too.

I have forwarded this to my local fishing buddies that I partner with for Striper fishing on that fishery, as well as the Whitlock's who love that fishery, too.

VERY surprised that so few have taken interest and replied to your post.

Your club's work for the benefit of many others is wonderful!!!!

Everyone who follows the fishery on this wonderful Forum, please take time to read the full content of the report.

GREAT news for the future of your beloved trout fishery in SE OK!!!

All the best,

Bill Butts

[bfishn]

Salute dgames! Well done!

[dgames]

Thanks. To put credit where it belongs within TU, our previous president Scott Hood is the guy that really worked hard to make this happen. We also had a bunch of people write letters and we have been told that made a big difference.

[On The Fly 6]

You never know what you can do until you try. Great job. Guess I should go ahead and join TU so that I'll stop getting stuff in the mail

[JCWolfe]

You will still get stuff in the mail if you join, that doesn't bother me. They want you to upgrade your membership.

[On The Fly 6]

Yeah, I know I'll get stuff in the mail..like my free gifts!

[budman]

Glad this work is finished and it will keep another fish kill from happening. Does anyone know if stocking is still happening? I was in Arkansas and was told that stocking is not happening as regular or as many fish when stocking happens. Didn't know if the cut backs affected Oklahoma as well.