07.09.2014 Views

Alafia River Minimum Flows and Levels - Southwest Florida Water ...

Alafia River Minimum Flows and Levels - Southwest Florida Water ...

Alafia River Minimum Flows and Levels - Southwest Florida Water ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

5.4.2 Short-Term Compliance St<strong>and</strong>ards for the <strong>Alafia</strong> <strong>River</strong> - Block 3<br />

Short-Term Compliance St<strong>and</strong>ards represent a flow prescription that can be<br />

utilized for evaluating minimum flows compliance on a short-term basis, for<br />

example, based on measured daily flows. During Block 3, which begins on June<br />

25 <strong>and</strong> ends on October 27, the following Short-Term Compliance St<strong>and</strong>ards<br />

apply:<br />

1) All flows equal to or below 59 cfs measured at the USGS <strong>Alafia</strong> <strong>River</strong><br />

at Lithia, FL gage are protected in their entirety;<br />

2) All flows between 59 cfs <strong>and</strong> 64.2 cfs measured at the Lithia gage are<br />

available for use; <strong>and</strong><br />

3) A 13% reduction of all flows above 64.2 cfs <strong>and</strong> below 374 cfs<br />

measured at the Lithia gage is available for use; <strong>and</strong><br />

4) An 8% reduction of all flows above 374 cfs measured at the Lithia gage<br />

is available for use.<br />

The first st<strong>and</strong>ard was derived from the low flow threshold. The second <strong>and</strong> third<br />

st<strong>and</strong>ards were developed to permit compliance with the prescribed flow<br />

reductions for Block 3 without violation of the low flow thresholds. The fourth<br />

st<strong>and</strong>ard was developed through RALPH analysis to assure no greater than a<br />

15% loss of days for a given flow being achieved.<br />

5.5 Prescribed Flow Reduction for the <strong>Alafia</strong> <strong>River</strong> - Block 2<br />

The Prescribed Flow Reduction for Block 2 (PFR2) was based on review of<br />

limiting factors developed using PHABSIM to model potential changes in habitat<br />

availability for several fish species <strong>and</strong> macroinvertebrate diversity, <strong>and</strong> use of<br />

RALPH analysis to specifically evaluate changes in inundation patterns of woody<br />

habitats. The prescribed flow reduction was established by calculating the<br />

percent-of-flow reduction which would result in no more than a 15% loss of<br />

habitat availability during Block 2 or no more than a 15% reduction in number of<br />

days of inundation of exposed root habitat, over the entire year, after prescribed<br />

flow reductions for Block 1 <strong>and</strong> Block 3 were applied. For the <strong>Alafia</strong> <strong>River</strong>, a 15%<br />

reduction in number of days of inundation of exposed root habitat, over the entire<br />

year, was the limiting factor <strong>and</strong> yielded a prescribed flow reduction for Block 2 of<br />

19% of the flow at the Lithia gage site.<br />

5-12

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!