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Communication at the NABS Annual meeting, Keystone, 2000
(233) IMPLICATIONS OF TEMPORAL VARIATION IN AQUATIC COMMUNITIES FOR BIOCRITERIA DEVELOPMENT.
R.D. French1 and J. Dorsch2. 1Camp Dresser & McKee,Inc. St. Louis, Missouri 63112, 2Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, Denver, Colorado 80229
Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (District), discharges approximately 160 million gallons/day of
wastewater to the South Platte River in Denver, Colorado. The District has been monitoring
macroinvertebrate and fish communities over 10 years to determine the effects to these communities after
incremental improvements to the District's wastewater treatment system. These improvements have
consisted of: the removal chlorine and the two-fold reduction in ammonia-nitrogen. These improvements have resulted in biological changes downstream of the District's discharge point. The South Platte River as it flows through Denver, is highly stressed from extreme high and low flows, stormwater and agricultural runoff and inputs from industrial and municipal sources. The river downstream of the District is dominated by flows from the District's discharges. The District monitored six locations for changes in biological integrity using Rapid Bioassessment Protocols. Macroinvertebrate and fish communities in the South Platte River exhibit significant variation in the number of species present and total individuals between 1988 and 1998. Rapid Bioassessment community metrics varied significantly on an annual basis, with little change effluent water quality. Due to high variability in aquatic communities, the use of biocriteria to determine if stream standards are being attained may be inappropriate in highly stressed streams.
Presented at 9:00 AM on Thursday, June 1, 2000 in Application of Biocriteria / Standards to Highly Stressed Rivers and Streams
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