Yolo Bypass Aquatic Restoration and Planning Implementation Project
Format
SOECS Senior Project Demonstration
Faculty Mentor Name
Gary Litton
Faculty Mentor Department
School of Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Artist Statement
The purpose of the Yolo Bypass Aquatic Restoration and Planning Implementation Project is to design a series of detention basins to facilitate research for investigating the de-methylation mechanisms important in the Yolo Bypass of California. The Yolo Bypass is 59,000 acres of floodplain and wildlife area located on the west side of the lower Sacramento River in Solano and Yolo counties. The primary purpose of the Yolo Bypass is to provide flood control for runoff generated from the Sacramento River watershed. Secondary purposes of the bypass include farming and wetland habitat.Methylmercury (CH3Hg+) is a neurotoxin. Studies have shown that methylmercury contamination in aquatic ecosystems has led to diminished reproductive success of fish, fish-eating birds, and mammals. This has the potential to disrupt the ecosystem and reduce available food supplies, as well as cause human health problems. The Yolo Bypass contributes the highest levels, approximately eighty percent, of methylmercury to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Inorganic elemental mercury enters into the Yolo Bypass wetland through influent creeks that pass through the Yolo Bypass’s flooded fields. The mercury is methylated in these flooded fields and then discharged into the Delta. The purpose of this project is to design a series of detention basins that may be used to facilitate research to reduce methylmercury concentrations from the Yolo Bypass ecosystem.The projects sponsors include the Department of Fish and Game, the Yolo Wildlife Area, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the California Waterfowl Association.The scope of work to accomplish the project includes:Preliminary planning and research;Field surveying and topographic mapping;Geotechnical analysis of site conditions and proposed construction;Environmental and hydraulic design of proposed basins;Facility design and document preparation; andProject management
Location
School of Engineering & Computer Science
Start Date
30-4-2011 2:00 PM
End Date
30-4-2011 3:30 PM
Yolo Bypass Aquatic Restoration and Planning Implementation Project
School of Engineering & Computer Science
The purpose of the Yolo Bypass Aquatic Restoration and Planning Implementation Project is to design a series of detention basins to facilitate research for investigating the de-methylation mechanisms important in the Yolo Bypass of California. The Yolo Bypass is 59,000 acres of floodplain and wildlife area located on the west side of the lower Sacramento River in Solano and Yolo counties. The primary purpose of the Yolo Bypass is to provide flood control for runoff generated from the Sacramento River watershed. Secondary purposes of the bypass include farming and wetland habitat.Methylmercury (CH3Hg+) is a neurotoxin. Studies have shown that methylmercury contamination in aquatic ecosystems has led to diminished reproductive success of fish, fish-eating birds, and mammals. This has the potential to disrupt the ecosystem and reduce available food supplies, as well as cause human health problems. The Yolo Bypass contributes the highest levels, approximately eighty percent, of methylmercury to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Inorganic elemental mercury enters into the Yolo Bypass wetland through influent creeks that pass through the Yolo Bypass’s flooded fields. The mercury is methylated in these flooded fields and then discharged into the Delta. The purpose of this project is to design a series of detention basins that may be used to facilitate research to reduce methylmercury concentrations from the Yolo Bypass ecosystem.The projects sponsors include the Department of Fish and Game, the Yolo Wildlife Area, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the California Waterfowl Association.The scope of work to accomplish the project includes:Preliminary planning and research;Field surveying and topographic mapping;Geotechnical analysis of site conditions and proposed construction;Environmental and hydraulic design of proposed basins;Facility design and document preparation; andProject management