Evaluation of Hydrodynamic Mixing in Keswick Reservoir, California, 2021-22

Dates

Publication Date: 2022-11-08
Start Date: 2021-12-03
End Date: 2022-04-08

Citation

Work, P.A., 2022, Evaluation of Hydrodynamic Mixing in Keswick Reservoir, California, 2021-22: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P93KLM31.

Summary

California's State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) wishes to quantify how water and constituents introduced via the outflow from the Spring Creek Diversion Dam mix with water within Keswick Reservoir. Of primary interest is the degree of dilution that exists when this introduced flow reaches the main stem of Keswick Reservoir, and how this mixing is influenced by different operational parameters of the system. In addition to flows through the three relevant dams (Spring Creek Debris Dam, Keswick Dam, and Shasta Dam) that must be considered, there is additional flow entering the Spring Creek Arm of the Keswick Reservoir via two penstocks that carry water from Whiskeytown Lake - in a different watershed - to the Spring Creek Power [...]

Summary

California's State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) wishes to quantify how water and constituents introduced via the outflow from the Spring Creek Diversion Dam mix with water within Keswick Reservoir. Of primary interest is the degree of dilution that exists when this introduced flow reaches the main stem of Keswick Reservoir, and how this mixing is influenced by different operational parameters of the system. In addition to flows through the three relevant dams (Spring Creek Debris Dam, Keswick Dam, and Shasta Dam) that must be considered, there is additional flow entering the Spring Creek Arm of the Keswick Reservoir via two penstocks that carry water from Whiskeytown Lake - in a different watershed - to the Spring Creek Power Plant. In total there are thus four different flow rates to consider, all controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to manage a combination of water supply, water quality and ecological interests. The problem was investigated by an approach that combines three-dimensional numerical modeling of hydrodynamics and an assumed conserved tracer with a small field measurement campaign to measure short-term mixing processes via monitoring of released dye for comparison to model results. The project involves the use of the public domain Delft3d hydrodynamic model, which includes conserved constituent transport. This data release contains data from: 1) a small-footprint bathymetric survey performed at the upstream end of the Spring Creek Arm on 12/3/21, and 2) Data from a Rhodamine dye mixing experiment conducted 4/4-4/8/22. This dataset includes: - discharge data to and from Keswick reservoir - some water level and water temperature data - a bathymetric survey dataset assembled from three different surveys, differing in scope, in 2010, 2016 and 2021. - data from 10 sondes deployed in Keswick Reservoir 4/4-4/8/22 to record Rhodamine dye concentration, water temperature, and specific conductivity, along with pressure head. - data from three GPS-equipped drifters that recorded surface flow pathlines for the first half-day of the April 2022 experiment. This this data release includes all of the measurements required to run the hydrodynamic model to simulate the April 2022 field experiment.

Contacts

Point of Contact :: Paul A Work
Process Contact :: Paul A Work
Originator :: Paul A Work
Metadata Contact :: Paul A Work
Publisher :: U.S. Geological Survey
Distributor :: U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
SDC Data Owner :: California Water Science Center
USGS Mission Area :: Water Resources

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Keswick_DataRelease.xml “xml file” Original FGDC Metadata	View	40.01 KB	application/fgdc+xml
Bathymetry.csv “bathymetry file”		50.95 MB	text/csv
Cyclops1a.csv “cyclops station 1a data”		49.91 KB	text/csv
Cyclops2a.csv “cyclops station 2a data”		49.91 KB	text/csv
Cyclops2b.csv “cyclops station 2b data”		49.88 KB	text/csv
Cyclops3.csv “cyclops station 3 data”		49.82 KB	text/csv
Cyclops4.csv “cyclops station 4 data”		49.91 KB	text/csv
Cyclops5.csv “cyclops station 5 data”		49.93 KB	text/csv
Cyclops6.csv “cyclops station 6 data”		34.05 KB	text/csv
Drifter1.txt “drifter 1 position time series”		2.64 MB	text/plain
Drifter2.txt “drifter 2 position time series”		1.69 MB	text/plain
Drifter3.txt “drifter 3 position time series”		2.55 MB	text/plain
DyeInflow.csv “dye inflow time series”		1.21 KB	text/csv
Hobo.csv “water depth and temperature time series”		9.79 KB	text/csv
sonde1b.csv “ysi station 1b data”		50.61 KB	text/csv
sonde7a.csv “ysi station 7a data”		50.57 KB	text/csv
sonde7b.csv “ysi station 7b data”		51.87 KB	text/csv
SondeDeployment.csv “sonde locations”		1.5 KB	text/csv

Purpose

Keswick Reservoir, immediately downstream from Shasta Lake on the Sacramento River near Redding, receives both water and contaminants via Spring Creek Debris Dam outflows. For regulatory and management purposes, it is desired to know dilution rates for points downstream of the inflow, and how these vary with hydrological/meteorological forcing and reservoir management. Four dams and powerplants regulate flow in and out of Keswick Reservoir: Shasta Dam upstream, Keswick Dam downstream, Spring Creek Power Plant, admitting water from Whiskeytown Reservoir, and Spring Creek Debris Dam. The latter holds back and eventually admits to Spring Creek the runoff from mined areas, including an EPA Superfund site. Any contaminants introduced to Spring Creek via inflows through the Spring Creek Diversion Dam will mix with the receiving water and be diluted while being carried downstream. This mixing will be influenced by the parameters governing reservoir hydrodynamics, particularly the discharges through the four dams. There are many potentially important aspects of the problem, including the influence of introduced contaminants on fish, benthic organisms, etc., and transformation of contaminants within the reservoir, but this project focuses on the short-term mixing problem, and considers only a conserved, neutrally buoyant contaminant. The Sacramento River watershed is a critical component of the federal water resources infrastructure of California. Shasta Lake is the largest reservoir in the state, and its outflow passes through Keswick Reservoir and then downstream to meet ecological, municipal, industrial and agricultural needs of much of the rest of the state. The USGS California Water Science Center is and has been heavily involved in the monitoring and modeling of water resources in the state, to address federal, state, and local government water issues. This includes water availability, management, quality, and associated ecological needs. The project proposed here focuses on the influence of mixing on water quality, which is influenced by flows dictated by natural hydrology and water management to meet human and other needs.

Evaluation of Hydrodynamic Mixing in Keswick Reservoir, California, 2021-22

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