Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5060
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Scientific Investigations Report 2006–5060
Many water-quality issues related to the dam raise are outside the scope of this modeling study. The effect on water quality in the Tualatin River due to the wintertime diversion of water via pump-back or the Sain Creek tunnel was not analyzed. Also, a number of studies (Povari, 1998; Therriault and Schneider, 1998; St. Louis and others, 2004) have shown that mercury concentrations increase in reservoirs and reservoir biota after dam construction. It is thought that organic carbon in newly flooded soils and plants decomposes and increases the microbial methylation of mercury (present from atmospheric deposition or other sources), which then passes mercury into the food chain. Inundation of soils and vegetation also could have an effect on lake nutrient cycling. This possible influx of nutrients might influence algal species composition and concentration in the lake. Other issues not addressed in this study include the effect of a raise in crest gate elevation on total dissolved gas levels below the dam, and the effect of climatic or meteorologic variation on lake water quality.
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