Flow and Chloride Transport in the Tidal Hudson River, NY

Weiss, Lawrence A.; Schaffranek, Raymond W.; de Vries, M. Peter; ,

Flow and Chloride Transport in the Tidal Hudson River, NY

by Lawrence A. Weiss, (M.ASCE), U.S. Geological Survey, Hartford, United States,
Raymond W. Schaffranek, (M.ASCE), U.S. Geological Survey, Hartford, United States,
M. Peter de Vries, U.S. Geological Survey, Hartford, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Hydraulic Engineering

Abstract:

A one-dimensional dynamic-flow model and a one-dimensional solute-transport model were used to evaluate the effects of hypothetical public-supply water withdrawals on saltwater intrusion in a 133-mile reach of the tidal Hudson River between Green Island dam, near Troy, N.Y., and Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. Regression techniques were used in analyses of current and extreme historical conditions, and numerical models were used to investigate the effect of various water withdrawals. Of four withdrawal scenarios investigated, simulations of a 27-day period during which discharges at Green Island dam averaged 7,090 ft³/s indicate that increasing the present Chelsea pumping-station withdrawal rate of 100 Mgal/d (million gallons per day) to 300 Mgal/d would have the least effect on upstream saltwater movement. A 90-day simulation, during which discharges at Green Island dam averaged 25,200 ft³/s, indicates that withdrawals of 1,940 Mgal/d at Chelsea would not measurably increase chloride concentrations at Chelsea under normal tidal and meteorological conditions, but withdrawals of twice that rate (3,880 Mgal/d) could increase the chloride concentration at Chelsea to 250 mg/L.

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