Group+L

Stream Study Lab Report Kelsey W Dmitri S Ana M Derek I

Due: Thursday, Nov. 13, 08 Ms. Chang Earth and Enviromental Science TT3


 * Introduction:**

Our class took a field trip on Tuesday, October 21, where we had to take water samples from Swannanoa Creek and Catawba River. The reason in having this field trip was to teach us the students how to take water samples and how to read them.The objective of the lab was to check the waters physical and chemical aspect. Its important to monitor water quality in a watershed because it can help you have a more nutrient water flow for aquatic life and can help humans in the long run too. Three aspects of stream study are biological, physical, and chemical.

We hypothesised that the Catawba stream was more contaminated.The purpose of this lab was simply to compare two different streams in their chemical, physical, and biological aspects. The hypothesis was which stream was more contaminated, the Swannoa and the Catawba stream. We hypothesised that the stream closer to industrial area seemed to have more chemicals that could be harmful to you, than the stream in the area thats naturally cleaner and in a reserve. The streams varied on having different species according to the chemical outlay.


 * Materials and Methods**:

Kick net, DO kit, Nitrate kit, pH kit, Phosophate kit, Chlorine kit, tweezers, buckets, ice cube tray, hand lenses, ID chart, turbidity kit, thermometer.
 * 1) First we traveled to Swannanoa Creek
 * 2) We ate lunch
 * 3) Next we got split up into two different groups one being Ms. Chang’s and the other Mr. Kirk’s.
 * 4) After we got into our groups we recorded the date, time, weather, and location.
 * 5) Once in our groups we chose partners and then we set off along the creek to take tests on the water.
 * 6) After each group had recovered their information then everybody would meet up with their group.
 * 7) Once with the group again everyone would tell what information they had recovered from the test so everybody could record it in their field notebook.
 * 8) After everybody recorded the results then we got out our kick net to set it up
 * 9) We set up the kick net using four people. Two to actually hold the net and two to place rocks on the bottom of the net so the net could catch everything coming down stream.
 * 10) After the rocks were placed on the kick net the two people then started rub their feet along the bottom of the creek to kick up loose particles.
 * 11) After holding the kick net for about one minute the four people carefully picked up the net and laid it on the ground so the other students could look for biological specimens.
 * 12) About three or four students took tweezers and searched through the net and picked out anything that moved.
 * 13) When they were through with that they placed them into ice trays, then we studied them to find out what they were.
 * 14) After our study, we safely placed them back into the creek.

Date: __10/21/08__ Time: __12:13 p.m.__ Weather: __cold, but sunnny__ Stream: __Swannanoa Creek__ Watershed: __Mill Creek( Catawba)__
 * Results**:
 * Sample 1:**

DO: __4%__ Nitrates: __2.5ppm__ pH: __7__ phosphates: __1ppm__ Chlorine: __0ppm__ Turbidity: __0 JTU__
 * Chemical**

Temperature upstream: __10 Degrees Celcius__ downstream:__10 Degrees Celcius__
 * Physical**


 * Shade?** Yes
 * Riffle, Run, or Pool?** Yes all of them


 * Biological:**
 * Species || # Counted ||
 * Mayfly || 4 ||
 * Stonefly || 7 ||
 * Calyusfly || 7 ||
 * Aquatic Worm || 1 ||
 * Water Penny || 2 ||
 * Snail || 2 ||

Date: __10/21/08__ Time: __1:25 p.m.__ Weather: __Warm and Sunny__ Stream:__Catawba River__ Watershed: __Catawba__
 * Sample 2:**

DO:__4%__ Nitrates __2ppm__ pH:__7__ Phosophates: __.5ppm__ Chlorine: __0ppm__ Turbidity: __0 JTU__
 * Chemical:**

Temperature Upstream: __15 Degrees Celcius__ Downstream: __15 Degrees Celcius__
 * Physical**
 * Shade?** Yes
 * Riffle, Run, or Pool?** Run


 * Discussion**:

The results for the Swannanoa creek sampling means that it has ideal water. The Ideal Range- Chlorine- below .75 ppm Phosphate- less than .1 ppm Nitrate- 4 to less than 10 DO- 6 ppm pH- 6.5-8.2 Turbidity- 0 Temp. difference- 0

Catawba river did not fall into these ideal range. A possible reason is, because it is behind Wal-Mart. The run-off the oil from the parking lot which could cause serious pollution. The oil from the run-off could cause a higher turbidity range and a higher pH level. These are possible reasons of why Catawba river did not fall into the ideal range category.

Swannanoa creek had not very tolerant macro invertebrates, because its waters were in the ideal range. On the other hand, We hypothesis that the Catawba River had very tolerant macro invertebrates, even though we didnt really look for these invertebrates we can conclude that since their water is not really in the ideal range, the macro invertabrates had to be very tolerant to survive.

The Catawba river was very polluted, due to it was closer to industrial areas. On the other hand, the Swannanoa creek was very clean due to it was in the mountains so it did not have any industrial sites close to it.

[Next, compare the Swannanoa Creek to the Catawba River. Write out the comparison in words and also make two bar charts, one for chemical and one for biological. You will need to make the bar chart in Excel, save it as a picture, and then upload the picture onto this website.]

[Finally, accept/reject your hypothesis.]3