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Improving hydroturbine pressures to enhance salmon passage survival and recovery

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Abstract

Barotrauma caused by rapid decompression during hydroturbine (turbine) passage may occur as fish move through the low pressure region below the turbine runner. This scenario is of particular concern in North American rivers with populations of ESA-listed salmon. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory released Sensor Fish into lower Snake and Columbia River turbines to determine the magnitude and rate of pressure change fish might experience. Recorded pressures were applied to simulated turbine passage (STP) in laboratory studies to determine the effect of rapid decompression on juvenile Chinook salmon. These STP studies have increased our understanding of how pressure effects fish passing through turbines and suggest that the ratio of pressure change [acclimation pressure (the depth upstream of the dam where fish are neutrally buoyant) divided by nadir pressure (lowest pressure)] is highly predictive in determining the effect on smolt survival. However, uncertainty remains in smolt acclimation depth prior to entering turbine intakes at hydroelectric facilities. The USACE continues to make progress on salmon survival and recovery efforts through continued research and by applying pressure study results to turbine design. Designing new turbines with higher nadir pressure criteria is likely to provide safer fish passage for all salmonid species experiencing turbine passage.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Craig Busack and John Kocik (NOAA), as well as Bill Ardren (USFWS) for their assistance with editing and publishing this manuscript. We would like to thank our New England counterparts Don Dow (NOAA), Chris Tomichek (Kleinschmidt), and Wendy Gendron (USACE) for their assistance with locating literature and survival data for Atlantic salmon, and the USACE Turbine Survival Program and team members for their support in writing this manuscript. We also thank Brett Pflugrath of PNNL for assistance with this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Army Corps of Engineers, 201N Third Ave, Walla Walla, WA, 99362, USA

    Bradly A. Trumbo, Martin L. Ahmann & Jon F. Renholds

  2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd., Richland, WA, 99352, USA

    Richard S. Brown, Alison H. Colotelo & Z. D. Deng

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  1. Bradly A. Trumbo
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  2. Martin L. Ahmann
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  3. Jon F. Renholds
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  4. Richard S. Brown
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  5. Alison H. Colotelo
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  6. Z. D. Deng
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Correspondence to Bradly A. Trumbo.

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Trumbo, B.A., Ahmann, M.L., Renholds, J.F. et al. Improving hydroturbine pressures to enhance salmon passage survival and recovery. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 24, 955–965 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-013-9340-8

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