Practical Application of Fish Return Design Guidelines

One option that many facilities may use to meet the impingement mortality requirements under the §316(b) Rule is the installation of fish-friendly traveling water screens (TWS) with a fish return system (FRS). A critical part of an effective TWS installation is a system for returning collected organisms safely back to the source waterbody and the Rule provides little guidance on what defines a fish-friendly FRS

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has recently updated and developed a guidance document for the design, operation, and maintenance of FRS.  The design guidelines are based on criteria developed previously by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), criteria developed by federal and state organizations for other fish conveyance systems, a review of existing literature on fish stressors, and previous laboratory and field evaluations of FRS. 

These guidelines are intended to provide a starting point for the design of a fish-friendly return.  Under ideal conditions, a FRS could meet all the recommended guidelines; however, this is rarely the case.  In practice, site-specific factors often require a deviation from the guidelines.  This presentation will provide an overview of the FRS guidelines and investigate practical methods to address design challenges including testing, modeling, and alternative designs.