River Temperature and Dissolved Oxygen Content
A specific goal of the Restoration Project is to convert the river from a wide, relatively slow flowing waterway into one that flows more swiftly and is narrower. Narrowing the river deepens the water course and at the same time helps to keep the temperature lower, which is a condition more healthy for trout. Also, intrinsic to a successful restoration project is the creation of riffle zones where the water rushes across rocks, thus mixing air and water which increases oxygen concentrations.
Edwards Eagle River Restoration Project
River Temperature Monitoring
2012
General:
This year, the loggers were placed in the river on two different days, 06-Jul-12 and 13-Jul-12. We used our old loggers, but ordered 6 new ones (Model UA-001-08). We also got two loggers (Model U22-001) on loan from the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District.
Stations 1 and 6 contained our original loggers (Tidbit v2 Temp UTBI-001) and those on loan; these were placed in the river on the 6th in the early afternoon. The day was partly cloudy with building thunderstorms. Timm Paxson and Joe Macy worked from 12:30 – 1:45pm. The loggers were placed by walking to the locations.
River flows: USGS 09067020 Eagle River BL Wastewater Treatment Plant at Avon, CO 181 cuft/sec
USGS 09067200 Lake Creek near Edwards, CO 66 cu ft/sec
Flow at Edwards Waste Water Treatment Plant (Calculated) 247cu ft/sec
The confluence of Lake Creek is about 110 meters downstream from Logger Station 3 and the Avon Wastewater Treatment Plant about 5.8 kilometers (direct line sighting) from Logger Station 1.
Station 1 was placed essentially the same location as in 2011. Station 6 was placed in the rapids reach, but about 125 feet downstream of the original locations because of problems with people removing it from the water.
Upon arrival of new loggers, stations 2-5, 7 and 8 were placed in the river by boat on Friday, 13-Jul-12 beginning at 11am and completing the exercise about 1:15pm. The day started out sunny, but clouds gathered during the day.
River flows: USGS 09067020 Eagle River BL Wastewater Treatment Plant at Avon, CO 153 cu ft/sec
USGS 09067200 Lake Creek near Edwards, CO 32 cu ft/sec
Flow at Edwards Waste Water Treatment Plant (Calculated) 185 cu ft/sec
As in past years, dissolved oxygen measurements were also made during logger drop using a Model 55 YSI Dissolved Oxygen meter. Values are recorded below:
|
Station |
Date |
Time |
River |
Dissolved |
Percent |
|
1 |
06-Jul-12 |
12:53pm |
17.7 |
7.5 |
79 |
|
2 |
13-Jul-12 |
11:08am |
16.7 |
7.9 |
81 |
|
3 |
13-Jul-12 |
11:31am |
17.0 |
7.6 |
78 |
|
4 |
13-Jul-12 |
11:59am |
16.7 |
8.0 |
82 |
|
5 |
13-Jul-12 |
12:15pm |
16.3 |
9.0 |
93 |
|
6 |
06-Jul-12 |
1:35pm |
17.3 |
8.4 |
87 |
|
7 |
13-Jul-12 |
12:56pm |
17.9 |
9.1 |
95 |
|
8 |
13-Jul-12 |
1:12pm |
19.3 |
8.4 |
92 |
Further measurements were made on 27-Jul-12. The day was sunny with building clouds to the east.
River flows: USGS 09067020 Eagle River BL Wastewater Treatment Plant at Avon, CO 151 cu ft/sec
USGS 09067200 Lake Creek near Edwards, CO 59 cu ft/sec
Approximate flow at Edwards Waste Water Treatment Plant 210 cu ft/sec
|
Station |
Time |
River |
Dissolved |
Percent |
|
1 |
10:39am |
16.1 |
7.5 |
76 |
|
2 |
10:46am |
16.4 |
7.2 |
80 |
|
3 |
10:54am |
16.5 |
8.0 |
82 |
|
4 |
9:55am |
16.7 |
8.0 |
83 |
|
5 |
10:18am |
16.4 |
8.6 |
88 |
|
6 |
9:39am |
14.7 |
7.7 |
77 |
|
7 |
8:50am |
14.9 |
8.0 |
79 |
|
8 |
9:00am |
14.5 |
8.2 |
79 |
Notes:
Logger 1): ok; found under water undisturbed.
Logger 2): ok; found under water undisturbed.
Logger 3): ok; found under water undisturbed.
Logger 4): ok; found in river weeds under water undisturbed.
Logger 5): ok; found in river weeds under water undisturbed.
Logger 6): ok; found under water undisturbed.
Logger 7): ok; found under water undisturbed.
Logger 8): ok; found under water undisturbed.
Further measurements were made on 16-Aug-12.
Unfortunately, instantaneous temperature and dissolved oxygen values were only obtained at Stations 5, 6, 7, and 8. The oxygen meter started giving false readings and has been sent back for service.
River flows: USGS 09067020 Eagle River BL Wastewater Treatment Plant at Avon, CO 105 cu ft/sec
USGS 09067200 Lake Creek near Edwards, CO 37 cu ft/sec
Approximate flow at Edwards Waste Water Treatment Plant 142 cu ft/sec
|
Station |
Time |
River |
Dissolved |
Percent |
|
1 |
- |
|
|
|
|
2 |
- |
|
|
|
|
3 |
- |
|
|
|
|
4 |
2:41pm |
20.7 |
|
|
|
5 |
3:00pm |
17.4 |
7.6 |
80 |
|
6 |
1:45pm |
16.4 |
7.5 |
75 |
|
7 |
1:22pm |
15.9 |
7.9 |
80 |
|
8 |
1:06pm |
17.3 |
9.0* |
93 |
Notes:
Logger 1): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 2): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 3): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 4): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 5): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 6): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 7): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 8): Found; under water undisturbed.
Further measurements were made in the morning of 14-Sep-12.
River flows: USGS 09067020 Eagle River BL Wastewater Treatment Plant at Avon, CO 83 cu ft/sec
USGS 09067200 Lake Creek near Edwards, CO 12 cu ft/sec
Approximate flow at Edwards Waste Water Treatment Plant 95 cu ft/sec
|
Station |
Time |
River |
Dissolved |
Percent |
|
1 |
9:11am |
9.7 |
8.7 |
77 |
|
2 |
8:45am |
9.8 |
8.8 |
77 |
|
3 |
8:56am |
9.8 |
8.8 |
76 |
|
4 |
10:20am |
12.1 |
9.8 |
91 |
|
5 |
10:12am |
10.1 |
9.4 |
83 |
|
6 |
10:38am |
10.8 |
9.8 |
88 |
|
7 |
9:37am |
10.4 |
9.3 |
83 |
|
8 |
9:48am |
10.9 |
9.8 |
89 |
Notes:
Logger 1): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 2): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 3): Found, but out of water on bank. Returned to river. (Please do not remove any logger that you may find. Air temperatures are not what folks are collecting.)
Logger 4): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 5): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 6): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 7): Found; under water undisturbed.
Logger 8): Found; under water undisturbed.
Final measurements for the season were made on 19-Oct-12.
At this time, all the loggers were retrieved for reading.
River flows: USGS 09067020 Eagle River BL Wastewater Treatment Plant at Avon, CO 63 cu ft/sec
USGS 09067200 Lake Creek near Edwards, CO 15 cu ft/sec
Approximate flow at Edwards Waste Water Treatment Plant 78 cu ft/sec
|
Station |
Time |
River |
Dissolved |
Percent |
|
1 |
11:52am |
5.3 |
11.1 |
88 |
|
2 |
12:26pm |
6.0 |
10.5 |
84 |
|
3 |
12:12pm |
5.9 |
11.1 |
88 |
|
4 |
2:13pm |
9.2 |
11.7 |
101 |
|
5 |
1:53pm |
7.0 |
11.6 |
95 |
|
6 |
1:32pm |
6.6 |
11.9 |
97 |
|
7 |
1:16pm |
6.5 |
12.1 |
99 |
|
8 |
12:42pm |
6.8 |
12.5 |
102 |
Notes:
Logger 1): Logger found undisturbed in fast flowing water.
Logger 2): Logger found in flowing water. Might have been pulled toward the bank, but still submerged.
Logger 3): Logger found undisturbed in fast flowing water.
Logger 4): Logger found undisturbed partially buried in mud. Very, very slow moving water.
Logger 5): Logger found undisturbed in weeds and mud. Very, very slow moving water.
Logger 6): Logger found undisturbed in fast flowing water.
Logger 7): Logger found undisturbed in slow flowing water.
Logger 8): Logger found undisturbed in very slow flowing water.
Temperature Logger System
Shown below with the parts described is the logging system that we employ. If you find one of these systems in the Eagle, please leave it undisturbed. If you move it or place it on the bank, it can no longer do its job and the temperatures that it is collecting cannot be used or compared successfully with the temperatures recorded by its companion loggers. Thanks in advance.
Temperature Logger System
A. Heavy steel tie/rail railroad connector plate which serves as an anchor. A nylon line is tied to the plate and a section of steel reinforcement rod, submerged log, or sturdy land based object such as a fence post.
B. Logger protection case, fabricated from 2” PVC piping. Case has the following information written on it:
- Tidbit Serial Number
Logger Station Number
ERWC and phone number (827-5406)
The cases are about a 15 - 16 inches long including adapter and cap. Two-inch PVC was used for the cases. Holes are ½” in diameter spaced about 1-½” apart. There are 8 rows of holes, 45º apart. A ⅛” hole has been drilled into each cap to accommodate a wire.
C. Coated steel wire connection between case and anchor.
D. Tidbit v2 Temp (UTBI-001) temperature logger. This year the logger tubes contained two loggers. Stations 1 and 6 also contained a Model UA-001-08 logger while the remaining stations a UA-001-08 Pendant logger. (We were concerned about the battery life of the UA-001-08 loggers since this was year 5 of their use and the logger in the third station tube had expired.)
E. Stainless steel wire fastening the Tidbit to the logger case cap.
F. Logger case cap (note that the cap has a hole drilled in it to accommodate the wire. The wire is wrapped around a stainless steel bolt and pinched by a stainless steel lock nut.
Data Workup
Each logger was removed from its casing, connected to a PC, and the temperature data downloaded and transferred to an Excel file. It is initially graphed; a typical plot for the season is shown below:
If you isolate at single day, the spikes of the above plot become more meaningful. As the day warms, the stream temperature rises; as night falls, the temperature falls. This happens every day, except a cloudy or rainy day will result in a lower temperature rise.
The above plot compares the temperature recorded for the 16th of August at Station 3 for 2011 and 2012. (366 days have been added to the 2011 data to bring it into line with the 2012 data.) Both plots show the river temperature response to a sunny day, but note that temperatures were higher during the 16th of August, 2011. Remember that we had record snowfall in 2011 and low snowfall in 2012, and the river temperature reflects that fact.
The plot below shows the river response to a cloudy or rainy day:
The 13th of October 2011 was a sunny day, but the 2012 data suggests a cloudy or rainy day because the river temperature did not rise much during the day time.
The final plot compares the daily average temperatures at Station 2 for the season for both 2011 and 2012. Again, in 2012 the temperatures were generally higher than those recorded in 2011. The declining lines of the plot show the drop in temperature as the days shorten -- remember that the longest day of the year is the 21st of June.
