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I92fc I93fc I94fc 1956 PROPOSED 



USEABLE STORAGE IN RESERVOIRS 

 OF COLUMBIA RIVER \ TRIBUTARIES 



FIG. 7 



1. A bibliography of water quality 

 and its relation to aquatic life vas 

 developed . 



2. The literature was then searched 

 to obtain specific infonnation on water 

 quality characteristics that would be detri- 

 mental to fish life. 



6. Water samples were collected for 

 those water quality constitutnts significant 

 to fish life. Frequent samples were col- 

 lected during the suiBaer season when stream 

 flows are low, water temperatures high, 

 irrigation return flows at a maximum, and 

 when biological activity is at a maximum. 

 Less frequent samples were collected during 

 the remainder of the years owing to limita- 

 tions of the budget and available time. 



1 . Collected data were displayed and 

 evaluated as shown in the subsequent pages. 



8. Fishery biologists are expected 

 to study the final evaluation cf past, pre- 

 sent, and future predicted water quality in 

 its relation to fish life. 



Collected Data 



Water q\xality 



Water quality data was obtained as 

 far back as 1910 (U.S.G.S. , W.S.P 339 and 

 363), when Van Winkle made the initial 

 study of Pacific Northwest streams and lakes. 

 Very little quality data are available 

 (other than temperature) between this early 

 suin^ey and the end of World War II. The 

 Canadian Department of Mines and Technical 

 Surveys, Ottawa, has commenced (19^9) collec- 

 tion of water quality data on the Columbia 

 River and its tributaries in Canada. Water 

 samples in Canada and those of the U.S.G.C. 

 in the United States are frequently held for 

 several weeks prior to analysis. This 

 delayed sample analysis may give lower pH 

 and alkalinity values because of the foima- 

 tion of carbon dioxide from organic decompo- 

 sition or because of precipitation of car- 

 bonates. 



3> Existing data on water quality in 

 the Columbia River Basin were assembled. 



h. Air temperature, reservoir, and 

 IZTl^ation data in the Basin were assembled. 



^. Since the existing water quality 

 data for the Basin's streams were inade- 

 quate for a study thereof, there was estab- 

 lished a series of forty sampling stations, 

 located (a) on the main stem of the Colimi- 

 bia, (b) on its principal tributaries, (c) 

 above «uid below reservoirs, and (d) in the 

 irrigated areas of the Yakima River and 

 Columbia Basin Project. 



The water quality data described above 

 were copied and assembled on data sheets 

 that tabulate the data by the year and the 

 location. 



Air temperature 



Since water temperature is responsive 

 to air temperatures, it is necessary that 

 air temperature data, along with flow, be 

 studied when analyzing changes in water 

 temperatures. Accordingly, air temperatures 

 in the Colimibia River Basin were collected 

 from 1910 to the present (copied from U. S. 

 Weather Bureau Climatologlcal Summaries). 



10 



