Evaluation of Environmental Stress Imposed by a Coal Ash Effluent: Wisconsin Power Plant Impact Study

摘要

Effluent discharged from the coal ash settling basin of the Columbia generating Station (Wisconsin) modified water chemistry (increased trace metal concentrations, suspended solids and dissolved materials) and substrate quality (precipitation of chemical floc) in the receiving stream, the ash pit drain. To test the hypothesis that habitat avoidance could account for declines in macroinvertebrate density observed after discharge began, drift rates of two species were measured in laboratory streams containing combinations of reference and coal ash modified substrate and water. Contrary to the hypothesis, drift was uniformly lower in laboratory streams containing modified substrate and/or water compared to the reference condition for Gammarus pseudolimnaeus and Asellus racovitzai.