316(b) Phase II Compliance for Lower Missouri River Utilities Group

Burns & McDonnell was selected to provide professional consulting services for 15 facilities owned by seven electric generating utilities in Missouri and Kansas. This cooperative group was formed to reduce duplication of effort in meeting the requirements of the Phase II, Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act. Several of the clients’ facilities are coal-fired units on the Missouri River, with additional power plants located on the Mississippi River and reservoirs. The total output capacities of these power plants range in size from 59 megawats (MW) to 1,579 MW.

The seven electric generating utilities are:

• Aquila Inc.
• Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.
• Board of Public Utilities, Kansas City, Kan.
• City Utilities of Springfield
• Empire Electric Power District
• Independence Power and Light
• Kansas City Power & Light

• Historical fisheries review
• Impingement modeling
• PIC development

The scope of work included a historical fisheries review of the lower Missouri River and development of an impingement model to estimate the numbers, size and species of fishes likely to be impinged at the clients’ facilities. The effort was divided among five principle tasks.

• Develop a source water biological characterization of the Missouri River based on historical data.
• Develop methods and standards to characterize the source water physical environment for the Missouri River.
• Develop a model to predict impingement for the Missouri River facilities based on the composition of the ambient fish community.
• Develop variations on the above procedures for facilities not based on the Missouri River.
• Develop methods to conduct impingement monitoring and characterize the existing source water fisheries communities.

Data on the fisheries community of the Missouri River over the past 30 years was compiled and analyzed by searching 17 library databases, requesting previous fisheries studies conducted by LMRUG members, and through direct contact with state and federal fish and wildlife agencies and educational institutions. Analyses suggested that the fish community of the Missouri River in the areas including the clients’ facilities have been relatively stable over the last 20 to 25 years and that additional sampling at only two locations would provide adequate data for source water body characterization for the power plants on the Missouri River.

A template for characterization of the physical environment of the source water body was included. Specifications for scale drawings and maps of the vicinity of the cooling water intakes as well as procedures for preparing bathymetric maps and obtaining areal dimensions, flow, and water quality of the Missouri River were included.

An 80 percent to 95 percent reduction from the calculation baseline in impingement mortality is specified in the regulations for Phase II, Section 316(b). To determine the calculation baseline for 15 facilities, a model was developed to estimate the fish densities at the shoreline and the fishes’ abilities to out-swim the intake velocity. The estimated impingement rate was delivered in the form of an Excel spreadsheet model.

The efforts completed for facilities located on the Missouri River were adapted to all other client facilities, including data analyses and model development, for reservoir and Mississippi River fisheries, respectively.

Section 316(b) Proposals for Information Collection (PIC) was drafted for the Kansas and Missouri facilities. Procedures outlined included those necessary to estimate the impingement mortality rate through biweekly sampling.