Evaluation of Species Sensitivity and Sample Size Requirements for Traveling Water Screen Optimization Using Hatchery-Reared Fish at Alabama Power's Barry Generating Station

EPA identified fish-friendly modified traveling water screens with a fish return as BTA in the 2014 316(b) Rule.  Anticipating the Rule, Alabama Power Company (APC) installed five Hydrolox fish-friendly screens at Plant Barry.  APC then conducted one year of monthly monitoring to determine baseline latent impingement mortality (LIM) for wild fish and latent mortality (LM) for hatchery-reared Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus).  EPA Option 5 for impingement reduction involves installing these screens and fish return and, post installation, performing a two-year study to optimize their survival performance.  APC, working with EPRI, is developing an experimental design to perform an example optimization study as well as to identify the practical issues industry will face when implementing these studies.  Using hatchery Bluegill, this study evaluated seasonal LM for four separate screen operational parameters (rotation speed, spraywash pressure, trough flow, and manufacture’s recommendations).  We also evaluated three other hatchery species (Threadfin shad Dorosoma petenense, Golden shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas, and Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus) with a range of sensitivity to stress-induced mortality and the sample size requirements to detect differences in optimization parameters among these species.  Our research has indicated that there are numerous challenges to overcome to design and implement these EPA required optimization studies.