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Sampling and Analysis Plan for the Koocanusa Reservoir and Upper Kootenai River, Montana, Water-Quality Monitoring Program, 2021

Open-File Report 2022-1113
By: , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20221113

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Abstract

In 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey will collect water-quality samples and environmental data from 3 sites in Koocanusa Reservoir and from 1 site in the Kootenai River. The transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir is in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northwestern Montana, United States, and was formed with the construction of Libby Dam on the Kootenai River 26 kilometers upstream from Libby, Montana. Two of the reservoir sites and the Kootenai River site, in the Libby Dam tailwater (the outflow of the reservoir flow into the Kootenai River), are equipped with automated, high-frequency ServoSipper water samplers. At the two reservoir sites, these samplers are mounted to pontoon platforms and automatically collect samples from multiple depths; a ServoSipper sampler was deployed at one site in 2019, and another ServoSipper sampler will be deployed at a second site in 2021. Discrete water-quality samples will be collected monthly at two depths at the river site and at two of the reservoir sites. The goal of this project is to collect multidepth, high-frequency vertical and temporal water-quality samples and data to understand the limnological and biological processes that control variations and trends in selenium concentrations and loads throughout Koocanusa Reservoir and in the Libby Dam tailwater at the southern end of the reservoir. This sampling and analysis plan documents the organization, sampling and data-collection scheme and design, pre- and post-collection processes, and quality-assurance and quality-control procedures.

Suggested Citation

Caldwell Eldridge, S.L., Schaar, M.A., Reese, C.B., Bussell, A.M., and Chapin, T., 2023, Sampling and analysis plan for the Koocanusa Reservoir and upper Kootenai River, Montana, water-quality monitoring program, 2021: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2022–1113, 32 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20221113.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Sampling and Analysis Plan
  • Quality Assurance and Quality Control
  • Laboratory Analysis
  • Data Management and Reporting
  • Health and Safety
  • Training and Certification
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Analytes and Methods
  • Appendix 2. Job Hazard Analysis for Koocanusa Reservoir and upper Kootenai River, Montana, Water-Quality Monitoring Program, 2021
  • Appendix 3. Quality-Control Samples Collected
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Sampling and analysis plan for the Koocanusa Reservoir and upper Kootenai River, Montana, water-quality monitoring program, 2021
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2022-1113
DOI 10.3133/ofr20221113
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center
Description ix, 32 p.
Country United States
State Montana
Other Geospatial Koocanusa Reservoir, Upper Kootenai River
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details