Extent of Water Quality Effects of Dams?A National Viewpoint

by Jessamy J. Zagel, GKY & Associates Inc, United States,
Joseph S. Krolak, GKY & Associates Inc, United States,
G. Kenneth Young, GKY & Associates Inc, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Critical Water Issues and Computer Applications

Abstract:

An overview of phosphorus impacts on impoundments, a subset of the contents of the Dam Water Quality Report is presented. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the lead investigator of these concerns. The physical changes associated with impoundments include density stratification, eutrophication effects and other changes. The inventory of 68,000 dams was categorized into three types: 424 large power dams with over 10,000 acre-feet of storage volume and over 100 kw of power, 1701 large non-power dams with over 10,000 acre-feet of storage and 66,030 small dams of less than 10,000 acre-feet of storage. Randomly generated samples containing 40 dams were produced for each type. Water quality and other information on the sample dams, their associated impoundments, and upstream and downstream waters were acquired from the EPA STORET database.

Subject Headings: Water storage | Water quality | Dams | Water supply | Water sampling | Phosphorus | Nutrient pollution

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