Spill is a hot button right now for those who are watching the Columbia and other over-dammed rivers. But here's a question for which I would like an answer:

What happened to the nitrogen bubble disease? Maye 30 years ago, there was a HUGE uproar about smolt being killed below dams because of nitrogen bubbles in their bloodstream, caused by spilling water over the dams. The spilled water captured nitrogen and forced it into the spill to create a nitrogen super-saturation--it resulted in something like the bends only for fish. At that time, it was hailed as the doom of salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia system. There was a lot of press (even an article by Larry Green in, I think, Field and Stream) about the problems and calls to reduce spill by a lot of fisheries folks and scientists. Of course, some of these scientists were the ones who forced the logging industry to remove large, woody debris from salmon streams.

This isn't meant to be a confrontational post, but it is a call for an answer. Are we ignoring nitrogen problems in the spill? Were the problems negated by a different spill regime? Is anyone better informed than I (boy, I hope so!) on the situation?

Curiously,

Keith