Water Quality of Pfeffer Park Creek

This topic submitted by Joshua Basinger, Mandy Sulik, Chad Ziepfel, and Melissa Hamann (runwild01@yahoo.com) at 7:59 pm on 10/1/01. Additions were last made on Friday, April 19, 2002. Section: Dorsey

The purpose of our student-generated lab is to determine the affects of Miami University and the community of Oxford on the local watershed. While doing this, we will take into consideration the affects of the seasons upon the chemical composition of the water. Our hypothesis is that there will be general correlations between the changing seasons and the chemical status of the water in the Pfeffer Park Creek.
Methodology of our lab will include sampling water upstream of the park, within the park boundaries, and downstream of the park. We will conduct the tests once a week by a pair of group members. To obtain a well-rounded water assessment, we will test for pH, nitrates, phosphorous, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), and temperature. All of these variables will be compared to the seasons and the location of the samplings.
To conduct these experiments, we have obtained test instruments from Western’s Peer Science Tutoring Center. All of these instruments are probes that attach to a Texas Instruments Graphing Calculator except phosphorous, which is a chemical test. All tests will be carefully conducted and well documented into charts. We predict that the temperature is going to decrease, the pH will increase, Dissolved Oxygen will increase, nitrogen will decrease, and phosphorous will decrease. As a whole, the water quality in and around Oxford will increase as the season’s change. We believe that this will be caused by the lack of rainfall and agricultural runoff as well as the decrease in temperature which, usually, causes DO levels to increase.
Using all the data, we want to inform ourselves and our classmates of the pros and cons of our water, which aspects meet national standards, and which fall short. We will propose ways in which to improve the water quality surrounding Oxford. As a result of our student-generated lab, we will to draw attention and awareness to the watershed in which we reside.

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