Additional possibilities

This topic submitted by Bill (greenwj@muohio.edu) on 1/29/03. Additions were last made on Saturday, March 1, 2003. Section:

Hi Katie:

This should be an interesting project. You might want to analyze for one or two nutrients---nitrate nitrogen and phosphorus, for example---at several locations along the creek and at several times of year, especially in winter and spring.

Interviews with farmers bordering your study area will be especially useful. They will be able to give you quantities of fertilizer per acre and other valuable information. If you decide to study nutrients, look up the concept of "nutrient spiralling" on the net to get some sense of how these substances behave in streams. This will help with your experimental design.

Historical trends in fertilizer use and trends in water quality---changing nitrate concentrations in the Mississippi, for example---will provide a context for your study.

A discussion of the effects of nutrients on water appearance (the aesthetics of water resources) would extend this study into the humanities, as would some consideration of the role of ethics in land management. Do farmers have a sense of responsibility for the commons---the creek in this case---or are they concerned largely with crop yields and profits? What would Peter Singer say about this?

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