Balancing Fisheries Management and Water Uses for Impounded River Systems

<em>Abstract</em>.—A multimetric reservoir bioassessment was conducted on Lake Sinclair, a 6,204-ha multipurpose impoundment in central Georgia in 2002. This bioassessment was the first application of such techniques on a reservoir in Georgia and was an integral component of a Clean Water Act Section 316(a) demonstration. Findings from this project were used to support a request for a thermal variance for the Plant Branch heated discharge. Plant Branch is an electric generating facility that withdraws water from Lake Sinclair for cooling purposes and discharges heated effluent to the reservoir under the authority of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. A new cooling tower system began operation in 2002 and was designed to remove approximately 50% of the thermal output from the plant during summer months. Subsequently, the bioassessment was conducted to determine if a balanced, indigenous aquatic community is protected and maintained in the thermally influenced portion of Lake Sinclair.