Reports
Traveltime and concentration attenuation of a soluble dye in Antietam and Conococheague Creeks, Maryland
1971, Taylor, K.R. and Solley, W.B.
Information Circular 12
Abstract
Three time-of-travel studies, using a fluorescent dye, were conducted on Antietam Creek and Conococheague Creek in Maryland during 1969 and 1970. The studies were made on Antietam Creek at flow-duration points of approximately 75, 40, and 12 percent, and on Conococheague Creek at flow-duration points of approximately 90, 60, and l5 percent. Time-distance relations are defined by these studies for a range of discharges from 90 cfs to 500 cfs at the index gage on Antietam Creek, and from 90 cfs to 1,000 cfs at the index gage on Conococheague Creek. These relationships can be used to predict the traveltimes of the leading edge, peak concentration, and trailing edge of a soluble contaminant spilled into these creeks at any point in Maryland.
Graphs in the report can be used to predict the upper limit of concentration expected from any amount of soluble contaminant introduced at any point on Antietam and Conococheague Creeks in Maryland and at any discharge in the range of flows studied. Examples that demonstrate the use of the graphs for Antietam Creek indicate that the maximum concentration expected at the State Highway 34 bridge resulting from a contaminant spill at the State Highway 64 bridge at an index flow of 100 cfs is only 40 percent greater than that expected for a sinrilar spill at an index flow of 200 cfs. The contaminant cloud, however, would be spread out to such an extent that it would require three times as long to pass State Highway 34 at the lower index flow.
