As part of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP) dissolved oxygen injection plants are being constructed at two locations on the Savannah River. One is located on Hutchinson Island, Chatham County, Georgia, (Lower River Site) and will serve two diffuser sites, one on the Back River and one on the Front River. The second plant is located further upriver in Effingham County, Georgia (Up River Site). The downstream plant will be constructed and operational prior to commencement of dredging of the inner harbor, by agreement with the federal and state environmental agencies. Together this system is designed to deliver 40,000 lbs of dissolved oxygen per day to the Savannah River harbor and estuary. It will be operated seasonally during the warmest months of the year when dissolved oxygen concentrations in the river are at their lowest.
The purpose of the D.O. plants is to maintain D.O. levels in the river at an equivalent level to what it would have been if the harbor had not been deepened. Since the requirement for the D.O. system is not to achieve a standard D.O. concentration level, demonstrating achievement is a complex problem. This dissolved oxygen transfer efficiency study is one piece of that demonstration effort.
The goals of this work are to determine the efficiency of the dissolved oxygen injection system as it delivers oxygen to the receiving waters in and around Savannah harbor, determine the location of the dissolved oxygen plume in the water column after injection of oxygen to the receiving water body, and determine whether the oxygenated river water being returned to the river will effervesce.
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The detailed testing plan should be submitted within 30 days of Notice to Proceed. The sampling effort should occur within 60 days of approval of the testing plan, or within 60 days of the dissolved oxygen plant becoming operational, whichever is later, unless that does not permit sampling to be accomplished within the required window of July through September. In such case, the data collection period will be delayed until July. A draft report should be submitted within 30 days of completion of data collection, and a final report completed within 30 days of receiving comments on the draft report.