• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1187-1198
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• 2008

Many reservoirs in Korea and their downstream environments are under increased pressure for water utilization and ecosystem management from longer discharge of turbid flood runoff compared to a natural river system. Turbidity($C_T$) is an indirect measurement of water 'cloudiness' and has been widely used as an important indicator of water quality and environmental "health". However, $C_T$ modeling studies have been rare due to lack of experimental data that are necessary for model validation. The objective of this study is to validate a coupled three-dimensional(3D) hydrodynamic and particle dynamics model (ELCOM-CAEDYM) for the simulation of turbid density flows in stratified Daecheong Reservoir using extensive field data. Three different groups of suspended solids (SS) classified by the particle size were used as model state variables, and their site-specific SS-$C_T$ relationships were used for the conversion between field measurements ($C_T$) and state variables (SS). The simulation results were validated by comparing vertical profiles of temperature and turbidity measured at monitoring stations of Haenam(R3) and Dam(R4) in 2004. The model showed good performance in reproducing the reservoir thermal structure and propagation of stream density flow, and the magnitude and distribution of turbidity in the reservoir were consistent with the field data. The 3D model and turbidity modeling framework suggested in this study can be used as a supportive tool for the best management of turbidity flow in other reservoirs that have similar turbidity problems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.130-142
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• 2007

This study was to examine impacts of turbid water on fish community in the downstream of Yongdam Dam during the period from June to October 2006. For the research, we selected six sampling sites in the field: two sites were controls with no influences of turbid water from the dam and other remaining four sites were the stations for an assessment of potential turbid effects. We evaluated integrative health conditions throughout applications of various models such as necropsy-based fish health assessment model (FHA), Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) using fish assemblages, and Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI). Laboratory tests on fish exposure under 400 NTU were performed to find out impact of turbid water using scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results showed that fine solid particles were clogging in the gill in the treatments, while particles were not found in the control. This results indicate that when inorganic turbidity increases abruptedly, fish may have a mechanical abrasion or respiratory blocking. The stream health condition, based on the IBI values, ranged between 38 and 48 (average: 42), indicating a "excellent" or "good" condition after the criteria of US EPA (1993). In the mean time, physical habitat condition, based on the QHEI, ranged 97 to 187 (average 154), indicating a "suboptimal condition". These biological outcomes were compared with chemical dataset: IBI values were more correlated (r=0.526, p<0.05, n=18) with QHEI rather than chemical water quality, based on turbidity (r=0.260, p>0.05, n=18). Analysis of the FHA showed that the individual health indicated "excellent condition", while QHEI showed no habitat disturbances (especially bottom substrate and embeddeness), food-web, and spawning place. Consequently, we concluded that the ecological health in downstream of Yongdam Dam was not impacted by the turbid water.