Standards Development

Scope

This document describes the following methods:

— a method for carrying out laboratory and field tests to determine the fish safety of pumps, Archimedean screws and confined water turbines used in pumping stations or hydroelectric plants;

— a calculation method for predicting the survival rate of fish passing through pumps, Archimedean screws or confined water turbines.

— a calculation method for scaling the results of a fish safety test to a pump or turbine of the same type but with a different dimension and operating under different conditions

The fish safety test and the calculation method can also be used for open water turbines with the reservations described in Annex C.

In addition, in Annex D this standard describes aspects of pumps, Archimedean screws, water turbines, pumping stations and hydroelectric plants that affect the fish safety of these installations.

Purpose

In recent years increasing attention has been paid to the ecological water quality. Fish form an important part of this. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) [1], as well as the European Eel Regulation [2] and the Benelux Free Fish Migration Decision [3] are the international legal framework in which the measures are taken. In addition to improving the design of water systems this has definitely put fish migration on the map. For this reason studies have been carried out by various parties (water managers, pump and turbine manufacturers, ecological consultancy firms and knowledge institutions) to make pump and water turbine installations safer for fish.

Water managers are increasingly switching over to pumps, Archimedean screws and water turbines that are safer for fish. To make the right choice it is important that the testing of these machines has taken place in a standardized way. These tests can be carried out under laboratory conditions, as well as in the field. In the latter case the machinery is installed in a pumping station or hydroelectric plant. In the long term a situation may arise where, based on information received from tests already carried out, the practical test can be replaced by a validated calculation. This is only possible with the express precondition that this calculation has a high confidence level.

In the past there was no clear definition of test procedures to establish the fish safety of pumps, Archimedean screws or water turbines. This meant that it was complicated for end users to compare the fish safety of these pumps or turbines with one other under practical conditions.

This standard describes:

—laboratory and field tests to determine the fish safety of pumps, Archimedean screws or confined water turbines;

— a calculation method for predicting the survival rate of fish passing through pumps, Archimedean screws or confined water turbines.

— a calculation method for scaling the results of a fish safety test to a pump or turbine of the same type but with a different dimension and operating under different conditions.

Additional methods are included in the following informative annexes:

— Annex C deals with the use of the test method and the calculation method in open turbines.

— Annex L deals with a calculation method for the avoidance behaviour of fish.

The results of the test and the calculation methods can be compared with the maximum sustainable mortality rate for a given fish stock at the site of the Archimedean screw, pump or water turbine. This standard does not describe these maximum rates and also does not describe a method for determining such a maximum.