Temperature Control in Outdoor Experimental Ponds

Abstract

The National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) of the Federal Water Quality Administration located at Duluth, Minnesota, proposed to build and operate a number of outdoor experimental ponds for the study of aquatic life under the effects of various controlled water temperatures. The ponds were to be located near the electric power generating plant presently under construction near Monticello, Minnesota, on the Mississippi River and owned by Northern states Power Company (NSP). Waste heat from the power plant and local ground water supplies were to be available for establishing the controlled temperature regimes in the ponds.

The purpose of the study reported upon herein was to determine the feasibility of maintaining certain specified temperature regimes in the proposed ponds. This was to be done by considering the available heating and cooling capacity and the environmental conditions prevailing at the selected site, and making design calculations for the major elements of the system required to maintain those temperature regimes.