Effect of Water-Injection Dredging (WID) Operations on Water Quality Downstream from Tuttle Creek Reservoir Active

To quantify and characterize potential downstream effects related to Tuttle Creek water-injection dredging, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will collect continuous (streamflow, water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity) and discrete (sediment, nutrients, and biota) water-quality data before, during, and after dredging upstream and downstream from the reservoir outlet. Ongoing sampling and monitoring at downstream Kansas River locations at Wamego, Topeka Water Plant, and De Soto will be collected by the USGS in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas Water Office, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, The Nature Conservancy, the City of Lawrence, the City of Olathe, the City of Topeka, WaterOne, and Evergy. The downstream water-quality monitoring and sampling will help characterize the extent of potential impacts of water-injection dredging within Tuttle Creek Reservoir.

Pre-Wid Objectives:

1. Continue to collect and document baseline water-quality conditions upstream and downstream of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir outlet,
2. Develop a suspended-sediment concentration surrogate model in the Big Blue River below Tuttle Creek Reservoir to estimate concentrations in near-real time.

USGS Collected Data:

1. USGS National Water Dashboard WID Study Area – Study sites include Kansas River near Ogden, Big Blue River near Manhattan, Kansas River near Wamego, Kansas River above Topeka Weir at Topeka, and Kansas River at De Soto, Kansas. Select a site on the map to view real-time water-quality conditions, subscribe to water alerts, and access data for download including field/lab water-quality samples.
2. USGS National Real-Time Water Quality
   • Big Blue River near Manhattan, KS suspended-sediment concentration surrogate model
   • Kansas River at Wamego, KS surrogate models
   • Kansas River above Topeka Weir at Topeka, KS surrogate models
   • Kansas River at De Soto, KS surrogate models

  3. Water-Quality Monitoring in the Lower Kansas River Basin

Additional Water-Injection Dredging Study Links (External)

• Update on the Tuttle Creek Lake Water Injection Dredging Demonstration Project – John Shelley, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (kwo.ks.gov)
• Tuttle Creek Lake Water Injection Dredging Demonstration Biological and Water Quality Monitoring Plan – Logan Rowley, Kansas State University; Keith Gido, Kansas State University; and Marvin Boyer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (kwo.ks.gov)
• Effect of Water-Injection Dredging Operations on Water Quality Downstream from Tuttle Creek Reservoir: Pre-Water-Injection Dredging Water-Quality Assessment – Ariele Kramer and Thomas Williams, USGS Kansas Water Science Center (kwo.ks.gov)
• Kansas Water Office: Water Injection Dredging Study and Demonstration at Tuttle Creek Lake (kwo.ks.gov)
• Dwindling capacity at Tuttle Creek Reservoir calls for an urgent and innovative solution – Carol Coleman, ERDC public affairs specialist (usace.army.mil)
• Update on the Tuttle Creek Lake Water Injection Dredging (WID) Demonstration – Josh Olson, KWO, Governor’s Water Conference 2022 (kwo.ks.gov)
• Water Injection Dredging for Tuttle Creek Lake – John Shelley, USACE, Governor’s Water Conference 2019 (kwo.ks.gov)