|
2002 Project Final Reports
Rand Preparatory School
Clarkston Homeschoolers
I was pleased to discover that the
water quality in Knox Lake is much better than I originally thought.
The Nitrate level is good meaning that the protein level in the water
is at and acceptable level for aquatic creatures to live. Phosphates
are also at an acceptable level, which will also help keep plants and
animals healthy. The pH level is optimal for supporting aquatic life
and the turbidity level in the water is excellent meaning that there
is a normal level of bottom feeding fish and boat traffic is being
kept to a minimum as to not disturb particles in the bottom of these
shallow waters.
However, the dissolved oxygen level is very low, even though the
Biological Oxygen Demand is still at an acceptable level meaning the
bacteria in the water and from decaying plants, caused by lack of
water, and Coliform bacteria (animal fecal matter), which Knox Lake
tested positive for, are not consuming to
much of the oxygen but this could get worse. A step in fixing this
problem would be to keep the water in Knox Lake flowing through Ellis
Creek so that bacteria cannot grow. I intend to look into this matter
and continue testing the lake in the future to see if the situation
has improved. |
Carmel College
Test Site: Lake Pupuke: - Name:
Pupukemoana "overflowing lake"
Location: Centre of Takapuna, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand
Type of Volcano: Caldera
Age: 140000 - 150000 years old
Depth: 34m
Introduction
Lake Pupuke began with small eruptive activity at generating thin
magma flows. Magma withdrawing back down the vent of the volcano would
have formed the large collapsed crater. Larger eruptions then expelled
ash, creating a low tuff ring around the crater. On the areas just
west of the volcano, the frothy
lava expelled formed a small scoria mound. The volcano later filled
with fresh water to become the Lake Pupuke we know today.
The current water quality of Lake Pupuke is quite good, but recently
it has shown signs of deteriorating. It is very important
deterioration does not occur as it would be very difficult to reverse
the process. A deterioration could cause concern for the flora and
fauna, and because Lake Pupuke is very popular
for recreational use. Explanations as to why the water quality is
deteriorating may include sewer overflow; air pollution from motor
vehicles, fires, and industrial discharges; reduction in riparian
vegetation; urban land development; reduction in catchment vegetation
and poor stormwater systems resulting
in overflows. [ North Shore City Report]
Here in the Southern Hemisphere, we have had a wet winter, and
although air temperatures are increasing with the onset of spring,
rainfall levels are still high. This could have an affect on the water
clarity and dissolved ion concentrations of nitrates in particular, as
they are very soluble.
Aim: Our aim is to monitor the water quality of Lake Pupuke so we will
be aware of any changes and be able to act accordingly.
Hypothesis: Nitrate levels will be higher than acceptable. [NB.
An acceptable range of nitrate ( NO3-) , 10mgL- 1]
Method: Data was collected in the suggested way on; water clarity,
nitate ion concentration. PH, phosphate ion concentration, water and
air temperatures, dissolved oxygen, conductivity
Results:
Date 18.10.02 27-3-02 Acceptable range
pH 7 7 6 - 9
phosphate conc. 0.15ppm 0.5ppm < 0.1mgL-1
nitrate conc. 2ppm 0.5ppm < 10mgL-1
nitrite conc. <0.15ppm <0.15ppm
temp. air 18.1°C - Spring 26.5 ?C Late Summer
temp. water 16.9°C 20.5
dissolved oxygen 9.2 milligrams per Litre 5milligrams per Litre > 5
mgL-1
clarity 100% 91%
conductivity 283ppm na
Discussion
As can be seen from the results table although the nitrate ion
concentration is greater than it was in March, both sets of data fall
within the acceptable parameters. [ www.waicare.org.nz] This means
that our hypothesis is incorrect.
However, regular monitoring should be carried out as the nitrate ion
concentration has increased and “one off” sampling is quite
inaccurate. This should avoid eutrophic conditions developing.
In participating in this project, we have found that concern for water
quality is worldwide and that environmental protection is not “someone
else’s” problem. We all need to work together.
We enjoyed using new data logging equipment to gather information on
water quality and are looking forward to using the new software
programme to analyse regularly collected data. “ It feels
as if the school is moving into the 21st century” It will also be
interesting to see if there are seasonal fluctuations.
We enjoyed using our skills in a real life application and being able
to visit the lake. “it was neat to work by the Lake, especially when
there are ducklings, cygnets and baby Pukeko, they’re so cute. You’ve
just got to avoid the mother birds and the ……. on the ground”
Year 12 Environmental Science Group |
Whitten Middle School
Final Report:
This is the final report from the Global Water Sampling Project of the
eighth grade honors class at Whitten Middle School in Jackson,
Mississippi. Our class performed all ten tests, and each student group
became an expert on their assigned test or tests. Since we had to do
this extra research, we learned new
things about words of which we had barely heard. Terms such as
“turbidity” and “BOD” can now be a part of our vocabulary.
Our tests were conducted using chemical reaction tests, color tests,
specialized equipment for turbidity, and collection nets for
macro-invertebrates. We learned how to really use the scientific
method and the importance of following directions in using laboratory
techniques. From all of our testing, we found that our
water is relatively clean and can support good populations of aquatic
animal and plant life. Even the swamp that we thought was awfully
dirty turned out to be unpolluted and could support lots of aquatic
life.
One of our lessons learned was that we should have done a lot of our
research before we went out to the test sites. Since we performed five
measurements for each test, we did not really think about the extra
time we needed at each site. We had to bring some water samples back
to our classroom to perform tests because we ran out of time at the
site. The solution would have been to have planned to stay longer at
each site. We collected almost all of our samples from the water’s
edge at each site. We would have liked to have arranged for a boat in
order to get some samples from the deeper areas.
We gave a presentation to the School
Board about our participation in the Global Water Sampling
Project.
 |
 |
We are attaching the data from our final results.
Lake
T emp ( C ) 21.4
PH 7.5
DO (ppm) 4
Nitrates (ppm) 0
Phos (ppm) 1
BOD (ppm) 0
Carbon Dioxide (ppm) 8
Turbidity (m) .62
Coliform Bacteria yes |
Pearl River (River Bend)
T emp ( C ) 24.5
PH 7
DO (ppm) 8
Nitrates (ppm) 0
Phos (ppm) 1
BOD (ppm) 4
Carbon Dioxide (ppm) 8
Turbidity (m) .25
Coliform Bacteria yes |
Cypress Swamp
T emp ( C ) 20.1
PH 7
DO (ppm) 4
Nitrates (ppm) 0
Phos (ppm) 1
BOD (ppm) 0
Carbon Dioxide (ppm) 8
Turbidity (m) .35
Coliform Bacteria yes |
|
Emery High School
Recently, we did some tests in
Biology on water that was collected from around Emery County. In our
group, we concluded that our water from below Ferron was not of very
good quality. I believe that this caused by many factors. Such as the
high sediment level coming from all of the irrigation that takes
place up stream from our collection site. The high nitrogen level
might be caused by the man-made chemicals put on the land by farmers.
The thing that I learned from these lab tests is that the results
really vary from place to place depending on what is upstream of your
sample site. Our group interpreted our results by comparing them to a
color chart and deciding which color was the closest to the sample
color.
The only thing I would do differently in these tests is to test water
at the "top" of the water source before it has any human contamination
and then test the water below or at the bottom of the water source to
see how much people have polluted the water. |
Bay-Arenac ISD
Career Center
Our class was very excited to
collaborate in the Global Water Sampling Project. Not only was testing
our water quality important and good to know but it also turned out to
be fun and educational. Many other schools and teachers collaborated
with us along with participation from all of the students from our
classes. Through the many variables we originally thought about, we
figured the water was going to be extremely different then that of the
pond. Ironically both water bodies (pond and ditch) were actually
quite identical. Not only was the pond and ditch nearly identical but
also we found out that our water quality was excellent. Almost all of
our tests proved to fall within the normal parameters for the testing
variables. The plants, insects, animals, and human interaction have
all worked symbiotically to complete an ecological niche that is
suitable for life. Next time we will start the project a little
earlier into the semester so the students can do all of the testing
outdoors. Other than this everything that we worked out step-by-step
worked flawlessly. We thought that the Global Water Sampling Project
is a wonderful project for all of the participants both foreign and
domestic. We look forward to other projects that CIESE has to offer.
This water quality project was truly a good representation of how to
assess the quality of water based on physical characteristics and
chemical substances while also looking for relationships and trends
among the data collected by all project participants. |
Powell Middle School
Hi! We are the students from
Trogan country. We are here to share with you our results from our
Global Water Sampling Project. We have learned a great deal about
water quality and pollution from our research. We used the
LaMotte water monitoring kit in testing our water samples. The source
of water we used was from Mayes Lake, a camping site, associated with
Riverside Park . Mayes Lake is used for many other activities, such as
boating and fishing. It had rained for at least three days when
we collected our water sample. We collected our sample after school
November 4, 2002. The sample was collected from the fishing peer near
the edge of the lake. The water sample was tested three times
for each of the items below, and produced the following results:
Test Factor Results Rank
Turbidity:__ 40TTU 2 (Fair)
Temp Change oC:__10 1 ( poor)
Dissolved Oxygen: _ 8ppm 2 Fair)
Biochemical Oxygen Demand:__ 8ppm 2 (Fair)
pH:____ 8ppm 2 (Fair)
Nitrate:___Not found( color change absent) N/A
Phosphate:___ 2ppm 3 (Good)
Coliform Bacteria:__ Positive 1 ( Poor)
In analyzing the results we found that:
* Turbidity and phosphate levels were good. Both indicated that
pollution entering the lake through run-off, decaying plants, and
debris were small.
*pH level eight (8) was good for most aquatic organisms.
* Dissolved oxygen and Biochemical Oxygen Demand Were fair. We thought
this were acceptable due to the time of the year the tests were
conducted and also the condition of the weather. The area around the
lake was clean. There were no undesirable odors. We did not observe
many plants, such as algae
growing in the water. There were a few decaying plants near the edge.
In our research we found that the dissolve oxygen and the biochemical
oxygen demand in water can be affected by vegetation growing in the
water, bacteria decay of dead plants, and sewage.
* The coliform bacteria count was high. This could be contributed to
the Pearl River Which is the main source of water for Mayes Lake. The
Pearl River travels through many cities, serving as the main water
source. The camp ground is also located near the lake and could
produce fecal materials that come
in contact with the lake.
In conclusion our hypothesis was partially correct. When the data was
calculated we used the mean and the mode to give ranking to the data.
The mode came out as fair and the mean was 2.5 (Fair+). From these
results we concluded that Mayes Lake is not a good source for drinking
water but is good for
the purpose in which it was designed. We really had fun staying
over after classes working on this project. It was a good learning
experience. Some members of the group expressed an interest
in during a similar project for the science fair.
We give special thanks to Ranger Greg Plump for allowing us to use
Mayes Lake for our test site, and also for coming over to give us
access to the park when it was closed due to the rain. We also thank
our science teacher Ms A. Derrick. |
Harold Wilson Middle
School
Harold Wilson is located in the
city of Newark, New Jersey. We sampled the lower Passaic River
first.
Another sample was taken from the Passaic River just above the
waterfalls at Paterson. The results were:
Turbidity: 0 JTU
Oxygen: 14.2 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm
Nitrate: 4.0 ppm
Ph: 7.5
The differences were 1. Turbidity and 2. Oxygen Our hypothesis
was the all readings would be higher downstream. The oxygen was higher
upstream. During the turbidity test we noticed that the sample
water was clearer than the tap water. We would like to extend our
experiment to check tap water samples and to check for the Water
Quality Index. |
Pacific Horizons School
Part I: Research and Hypothesis
A healthy stream contains levels of about 5.5 ppm or 90-100% of
dissolved oxygen. The higher the oxygen level the more life a stream
can support. Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels are highest in the
late afternoon and lowest at dawn. The minimum amount of oxygen
required to prevent negative effects on
organism is 5 ppm in most places. The main manmade factor that causes
DO to change in a negative way involves the buildup of organic wastes.
When organic wastes are dumped into a stream DO levels decrease, which
increases the oxygen demand. Cold water can absorb more DO than warm
water. Our
class made a hypothesis based on several observations that included
the following: (1) there was an excessive amount of garbage in and
around the stream; (2) there was the presence of at least two
piggeries along the stream; (3) there was minimal plant life and few
organism in the stream; and (4) the
water in the stream flows slowly. Our hypothesis was that our stream
would have little or no oxygen content.
Part II: Test Procedures
Our class tested 8 factors: pH, temperature, salinity, dissolved
oxygen , phosphates, nitrates, rate of flow, and depth. The salinity,
DO, phosphates and nitrates were all tested with kits. (The phosphates
and nitrates kit was provided by the E.P.A.) For rate of flow, we
measured 10 to 15 feet of the stream
then dropped a ball at the beginning point and timed how long it took
it to reach the end point. A math equation was used to determine the
rate of flow. For the depth, a ruler and/or meter stick were
used to measure water depth at both the middle of the stream and at
the banks of the stream. To see
photos of our class testing the stream, go to <http://www.pacifichorizonsschool.com/highschool/GlobalWaterSamplingProject.htm>.
Part III: Conclusion
As we could see from our data, the stream sections we tested were
actually rather healthy, contrary to our hypothesis. We determined
that it was probably due to the fact that we tested a running stream
that relies heavily on rain, which is plentiful on our island. When it
rains, which is often, the stream is usually full and flowing.
However, during periods of little rain, the stream becomes smaller and
unhealthy. Therefore, because this stream was flowing during our
testing, whatever chemicals that would normally disturb or effect the
stream, were all washed down the stream. (Unfortunately, these
chemicals will end up being washed out to the sea where our coral
reefs are located.) We hypothesize that if we were to study the stream
at a lower point of the stream, where the water isn't flowing as much,
we would probably find lower DO levels, and the subsequent effects
that come with lower DO levels. We also hypothesized that if we
were to test for microorganisms and chloroform in the area that we did
study, it would probably give us a better picture of the actual health
of the stream. |
|
