AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF WATER TEMPERATURE AND DISSOLVED OXYGEN CONDITIONS IN THE RED DEER RIVER /dlberra ENVIRONMENT AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF WATER TEMPERATURE AND DISSOLVED OXYGEN CONDITIONS IN THE RED DEER RIVER Prepared by: Karen A. Saffran, M.Sc. and Anne-Marie Anderson, Ph.D. Water Sciences Branch Water Management Division Alberta Environmental Protection March, 1997 W9709 OVERVIEW Temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) are important water quality variables which affect the viability of fish and other aquatic organisms. These variables can potentially be influenced by river flow. Understanding the effects of flow and other factors on these important variables is critical for river management, particularly in the face of increasing demands on river resources. In this report, simple empirical methods are used to investigate the relationships between water temperature, DO, air temperature, and flow at two locations in the Red Deer River. Available water temperature, DO, discharge, and air temperature data were compiled for a number of sites along the Red Deer River. Compliance with water temperature and dissolved oxygen requirements for fish were evaluated at all sites using daily data. Non-compliance with acute and chronic temperature criteria occurred more frequently at stations located in the lower reaches of the river. Violations of oxygen criteria in the summer months were extremely rare; the lowest DO concentrations were recorded during winter months in the long-term monthly data sets. An attempt was made to derive predictive equations for water temperature from air temperature at two of the sites for which there were daily measurements for portions of two years: Highway 2 near Normandeau and Nevis Bridge. There was a strong correlation between water temperature and air temperature at both sites. The correlation between water temperature and DO was also fairly strong; however, neither of these variables was well correlated with river flow. For both sites, maximum water temperature was best predicted by a linear combination of the previous day's mean air temperature and the current day's maximum and minimum air temperatures. The regression equations developed explained almost 90% of the variance in water temperature. Using these equations, maximum water temperatures were generated for the period between May 15 and September 15, from 1989 through 1996. Acute temperature criteria were evaluated for the eight years of derived data. No violations were predicted to have occurred at Highway 2 near Normandeau, upstream of Red Deer. Occasionally, however, derived temperatures at the Nevis Bridge site farther downstream exceeded acute criteria for Mountain Whitefish fry and adults. Based on site-specific data, flow appeared to have an insufficient effect on instream temperature and DO to define minimum flows needed to maintain compliance. More data need to be collected under warm, low flow conditions to address the question of minimum acceptable flows more completely. Experimental increases in flow during such conditions would further help to define river response. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Advice about the appropriate temperature and oxygen fish criteria to use in this report was provided by Allan Locke (Fisheries Management Division, Cochrane). Eric Vuori (Fisheries Management Division, Red Deer) provided information on fish habitat locations in the Red Deer River. This report benefited from review comments by David Trew (Water Sciences Branch, Edmonton), Al Sosiak (Water Sciences Branch, Calgary) and Russ Lewis (NRS, Calgary). iii TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF FIGURES v LIST OF APPENDICES v 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 1.2 OBJECTIVES 2 2.0 METHODS 2 2. 1 DATA COMPILATION 2 2.2 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES 2 2.2.1 Correlation 2 2.2.2 Regression 3 2.3 COMPLIANCE WITH FISH CRITERIA 3 3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4 3.1 DATA RANGE 4 3.2 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES 5 3.2.1 Correlation 5 3.2.2 Regression 5 3.3 COMPLIANCE WITH FISH CRITERIA 7 3.3.1 Actual Data 7 3.3.2 Derived Data 7 4.0 CONCLUSIONS 8 5.0 REFERENCES 10 6.0 TABLES, FIGURES, AND APPENDICES 11 6.1 TABLES 12 6.2 FIGURES 23 6.3 APPENDICES 27 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 . Monthly and daily data available for the Red Deer River. 12 Table 2. Ranges for water and air temperature, dissolved oxygen, and discharge 13 Table 3. Water temperature criteria for three fish species in the Red Deer River. 14 Table 4. Dissolved oxygen criteria for three fish species in the Red Deer River. 14 Table 5. Incidents with water temperatures greater than 24 -C 15 Table 6. Incidents with dissolved oxygen concentrations less than 5 mg/L 16 Table 7. Correlation coefficients for major variables using daily data from 1992 and 1996 for two sites in the Red Deer River. 17 Table 8. Red Deer River at Highway 2 near Normandeau: r2 v alues from various regressions (linear) using daily data from 1992 and 1996 18 Table 9. Red Deer River at Nevis Bridge: r2 v alues from various regressions (linear) using daily data from 1992 and 1996 19 Table 10. Evaluation of most sensitive water temperature criteria for all available data 20 Table 1 1 . Evaluation of dissolved oxygen criteria for all available data 21 Table 12. Highest predicted maximum water temperature and compliance with acute criteria for three fish species in the Red Deer River, 1989 - 1996 22 V LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 . Relationships between variables in the Red Deer River at Highway 2 near Normandeau, using all daily data from 1992 and 1996 23 Figure 2. Relationships between variables in the Red Deer River at Nevis Bridge, using all daily data from 1992 and 1996 24 Figure 3. Actual and predicted maximum water temperatures in the Red Deer River at Highway 2 near Normandeau and at Nevis Bridge for 1992 and 1996 25 Figure 4. Maximum water temperatures predicted from air temperatures for two sites in the Red Deer River, May 15 - S eptember 15, 1989 - 1996 26 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix I. Regression statistics for the Red Deer River at Highway 2 near Normandeau using previous day's mean and current day's minimum and maximum air temperatures 27 Appendix II. Regression statistics for the Red Deer River at Nevis Bridge using previous day's mean and current day's minimum and maximum air temperatures 25 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/empiricalanalysiOOsaff