reply: Water Quality Tests

This topic submitted by Rachel Chelsea Nagy (nagyrc@muohio.edu) on 1/27/03. Additions were last made on Monday, January 27, 2003. Section: Cummins/Kaufman

Your ideas sounds great! In terms of the water quality tests that you are looking to do, you might consider measuring the discharge of the Four Mile Creek and then comparing it with the discharge over the past ten years for instance. How has the discharge changed? You can obtain the data for the past years from the U.S. Geological Survey. This would give you an idea of the relative quality of the water as a comparison of how it has changed over the years. Along with this, you could also measure the sediment transport that is related to the overall discharge of the creek. Because excess sediment has been linked to degradation of the biotic life of a river, and thus poor water quality, you could use this data as an influential factor. Additionally, the composition of the sediments is important. Certain ions suggest certain things. For example, carbonate, is common in this area because of our limestone bedrock. However, high concentrations of phosphate are indicative of fertilizer use and thus can be seen as a sign of poor water quality. These are just some ideas of ways that you could test the water quality for your project. I hope they help!

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