Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act establishes design and operational requirements at cooling water intake structures to minimize adverse effects on aquatic organisms. Industries required to assess operational effects on fish may want to consider use of imaging sonar for sampling at intake screens and inside pump wells. In a collaborative 316(b) study with Environ International Corp. we used DIDSON to sample fish at a manufacturing facility in the Midwest. Sonar data were used to estimate fish abundance and describe fish distributions in pump wells, and to characterize fish behavior near travelling screens.
Fish inside pump well near travelling screens:
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