Computation and error analysis of discharge for the Lake Michigan Diversion Project in Illinois: 1997-99 water years

Abstract

Acoustic velocity meters (AVM's) and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP's) were used to measure streamflow at four streamflow-gaging stations in the Chicago River system. The streamflow data were used to compute discharge and to determine the uncertainty in the computed annual mean discharge at each station for the Lake Michigan Diversion Project in Illinois. Descriptions of the instrumentation at each station, stage-area and index-velocity ratings, and methods utilized for computing discharge and estimating missing record are given. Daily mean and annual mean discharges were computed for each station for 1997-99 water years (WY's). A water year is defined as the 12-month period from October 1 through September 30. The water year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends and which includes 9 of the 12 months. Thus, the year ending September 30, 1999, is called the 1999 water year. A first-order error analysis was applied to acoustic velocity meter (AVM) data, stage-area, and index-velocity ratings at each streamflow-gaging station. The error analysis results indicate that the uncertainty is sensitive to the value of uncertainty associated with acoustic Doppler cur-rent profiler (ADCP) discharge measurement data. At the Chicago River at Columbus Drive at Chicago, Illinois station for the 1997-99 WY's, the uncertainty, expressed as a standard deviation of the average annual discharge, ranged from 13 to 18 cubic feet per second (ft3/s) when ADCP uncertainty was not included, whereas total uncertainty ranged from 55 to 69 ft3/s when ADCP uncertainty was included. At the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal at Romeoville, Illinois station for the 1997-99 WY's, the uncertainty ranged from 18 to 20 ft3/s when ADCP uncertainty was not included, whereas it ranged from 64 to 68 ft3/s when it was included. At the Calumet River below O'Brien Lock and Dam at Chicago, Illinois station for the 1997-99 WY's, the uncertainty ranged from 13 to 22 ft3/s when ADCP uncertainty was not included, whereas it ranged from 35 to 53 ft3/s when it was included. At the North Shore Channel at Wilmette, Illinois station for the 1997-99 WY's, when the record was entirely estimated, the uncertainty ranged from 8 to 12 ft3/s when the ADCP uncertainty was not included, and from 16 to 17 ft3/s when it was included. For the 2000 WY, the estimated uncertainty was 8.6 ft3/s when ADCP uncertainty is not included and 12.5 ft3/s when ADCP uncertainty was included.