Multidisciplinary benefits from biomonitoring studies of cooling reservoirs

Therefore, biomonitoring studies of once-through cooling reservoirs for nuclear reactors not only provide field and laboratory information for environmental compliance, but also offer results which benefit lake and reservoir management constructs and limnetic community ecology. Biomonitoring programs have been performed at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site to provide information fro compliance with Section 316a of the Clean Water Act. On Par Pond and Pond B comprehensive field efforts monitored nutrient chemistry, plankton populations, fisheries, benthic assemblages, and littoral zone biota from 1983 through 1985. A similar effort, begun in 1985 and continuing through 1992, is in progress on L Lake. Results have indicated that nonplanned whole-basin manipulations and the comprehensive intensity of monitoring studies offer new insights into how limnetic communities function