Buck Steam Station (3)

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AWE
NC®ENR
'North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Division of Water Quality
Beverly Eaves Perdue Coleen H Sullins
Gover, or Director
July 6, 2011
Allen Stowe
Water Management, Duke Energy
EC13K
PO Box 1006
Charlotte, NC 28201 -1006
Dee Freeman
Secretary
Subject Review of Duke Energy Carolinas, NPDES Permit NC0004774 "Assessment of Balanced and Indigenous
Populations m the Yadkin River -and High Pock Lake Near Buck-Steam Station "? March, 2011
Environmental Sciences Section (ESS) staff has reviewed the aforementioned document which was hand delivered
to Eric Fleek from Sergei Chernikov on May 30, 2011 Eric Fleek reviewed the benthic macroinvertebrate data while
Bryn Tracy reviewed the fish community data
Based on a review of benthic macroinvertebrate data, it is evident that the thermal discharge is altering the
invertebrate community in the area nearest the steam station outfall (relative to upstream stations), both in terms of
invertebrate density and'taxa richness However, these metrics rebound outside of the mixing zone and at
downstream locations the metrics become comparable to those measured at upstream stations Therefore, based
on these data, the benthic macroinvertebrate community presently meets the requirements of a Balanced and
Indigenous Population (BIP)
,Based on a review of the fish community data, it is evident that there is a high degree of similarity in the fish
community from the upstream stations relative to the downstream locations The only exception to this noted in the
data was that some Catostomid taxa were present at the upstream locations but mostly absent at the discharge
and downstream stations 'Nevertheless, the overall fish community presently meets the requirements of a
Balanced and Indigenous Population (BIP)
Biomass and relative weight indices are currently collected by Duke Power staff However, these data are not
included in the report Please include these data in a tabular or graphical format for all of your study stations in all
future reports
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or my staff,
Sincerely,
Jay Sauber
Section Chief, Environmental Sciences Section
cc Corey Basinger, Winston -Salem Regional Office
Jeff Poupart, Surface Water Protection Section
Tom Belnick, Surface Water Protection
Sergei Chernikov, Surface Water Protection Section
1621 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699 -1621
Location 4401 Reedy Creek Road, Raleigh, North;Carolina 27607
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