WATER QUALITY SUMMARY FOR LOUISVILLE DISTRICT (2001)

Implementation of all major requirements of CEORDR 1110-2-26 continued during 2001. The Water Quality Team, Louisville District, continues to strive for excellence in fulfillment of several goals. These include: monitoring water quality at District lake projects; assessing and evaluating water quality conditions, including determination of trends and changing conditions; managing the water resource in a real time manner through application of mathematical water quality models and other tools; leveraging resources through development of partnerships with other Corps' offices, natural resource agencies, and the public; and continuing demonstration and development of expertise with respect to unusual and emergency environmental conditions.

The Louisville District Water Quality Program is designed so that proposed activities for any particular year are based on objectives set for a 10-year period beginning with the current year. Information collected one year is to complement and support that collected the next. Although the program involves a 10-year plan, flexibility in scheduling is possible to accommodate needs of other District elements and outside agencies, or to address special situations requiring reprioritization of program objectives. This program strongly promotes participation and cost sharing with other agencies; achievement of the most comprehensive product per unit cost; and Corps leadership and participation with respect to regional water resource development and evaluation.

The most basic aspect of the Water Quality Program is the measurement of selected physical, chemical, and biological parameters at river and lake project stations for water quality evaluation. Measurements of physical parameters may include temperature and turbidity for water, and material type and grain size for sediments. Chemical analyses may include measurements of dissolved oxygen, nutrients related to aquatic plant and algal growth, metals, organics, and toxic substance screening for priority pollutants. Biological indicators of water quality, including phytoplankton from lake stations and benthic macroinvertebrates from inflow and tailwater stations, are monitored for each lake project to provide information regarding short and long term trends in water quality conditions not readily detectable based on measurements of physical and chemical parameters alone. Some of our effort is facilitated by the use of remote monitors in the lower Ohio River and selected lake projects for evaluation of dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, and specific conductance. We have established remote continuous sampling stations in partnership with other agencies for determining total annual loading of contaminants at selected of our lake projects. The interpretation of water quality data collected from the lake projects is greatly facilitated by more frequent and regular measurements of dissolved oxygen and temperature taken at the dam site by lake project personnel.

The following links will take to you individual lake and river charts: