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 ...
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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 />
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