A number of technologies exist to add dissolved oxygen to water associated with hydro projects to enhance fish populations. Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies can help, owners determine which approach works best for a particular project. In the past 15 years, water quality issues, particularly with respect to dissolved oxygen (DO), have become an increasingly important consideration in hydroelectric project management. State and federal regulators have included rigorous DO requirements in the dozens of new licenses and reli-censes issued to hydro projects by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the past several years. FERC also imposes increasingly stringent requirements for the maintenance of minimum DO levels for many projects in an attempt to sustain or enhance aquatic resources. In addition, federal hydropower projects, which account for about half of the projects with low DO issues, have implemented various levels of aeration at about 40 projects. In total, the industry has seen numerous applications of methods to effectively increase DO at projects to benefit the environment while minimizing their negative effects on power generation.
展开▼
