Entrainment Characterization Studies at the Madgett and Genoa Power Plants

Entrainment characterization studies were designed and implemented at the Genoa and Madgett power plants on the Mississippi River.  Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) and EA worked with the WDNR to develop and implement a study plan that serves the needs of all parties.  Historical plant operating and biological data were used to address various concerns raised by the WDNR.  In addition to conducting entrainment studies, the program developed for DPC also includes monitoring ichthyoplankton (IP) drift in the river even though such monitoring is not required by the rule.  We will describe why we believe that establishment of the size of the at risk IP population will be useful in many situations.  The 316b rule places considerable emphasis on threated (T) and endangered (E) species.  Because of the low level of taxonomic resolution for many taxa of freshwater IP, this emphasis on T&E species creates a number of risks such as requests for additional sampling and erroneously concluding that T&E species are present.  We will discuss how to minimize these risks by taking into account habitat and life history characteristics of the various T&E species that might be present.