Group+B

Stream Study Lab Diedra H Amairani O Jonathan W Sissy B 10/25/08 Mr. Kirk Earth and Environmental Science 4th MWF
 * Introduction:**

First we went to Swannanoa Creek and did our stream sampling. We sampled the water to determine the quality. Chemical, physical, and biological were some of the tests we preformed. Then we went to Catawba River and did the same. Monitoring the water quality of our watersheds is important because we need to know if the water is good enough for people to drink.  Our purpose for this lab was to find out if the water in the Catawba River and the Swannanoa Creek was good or bad water. We did compare whether the upstream or down stream water was better. Our hypothesis is that the water upstream is better than the water downstream.


 * Materials and Methods**:

We used test tubes, tablets, macro-invertebrates sheet, direction sheet, data sheet, cup, and thermometer.

CHEMICAL 1) Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Follow the directions in the Dissolved Oxygen Kit.

2) Nitrates Follow the directions in the Nitrates Kit.

3) pH Follow the directions in the pH Kit.

4) Phosphates Follow the directions in the Phosphates Kit.

5) Chlorine Follow the directions in the Chlorine Kit.

6) Turbidity Follow the directions in the cup.

Physical thermometer

Kick Net To use the kick net you need to get two sticks and a net. Make holes on both sides of the net to put the sticks in. Put the net and sticks in the water standing up, then put rocks across the bottom of the net to hold it down. Clean the macro-invertebrates off the rocks and let them flow into the net.


 * Results**:

CHEMICAL: Swannanoa Creek/Mill Creek DO: 4 ppm Nitrates: 0ppm pH: 7 Phosphates: 0.5ppm Chlorine: 0ppm Turbidity: 0JTU

Catawba River DO: 4% Nitrates: 1ppm pH: 9 Phosphates: 1ppm Chlorine: 0ppm Turbidity: 0JTU

BIOLOGICAL: Swannanoa Creek/Mill Creek __SPECIES AND # COUNTED__ Water penny 6 Stonefly 1 Midge 1 Mayfly 2 Caddisfly 5 Cranefly 1

Other Observations: Crawdad

Catawba: Did not do

Other Observations: Frog Snake Fish

PHYSICAL: Swannanoa Creek/Mill Creek Temperature: a) upstream:14*C b) downstream" 14*C a lot of shade riffle, run, and pool

Catawba Temperature: a) upstream:18*C b) downstream: 18*C some shade run, pool

Picture of crawdads


 * Discussion**:

Our results from Catawba and Swannanoa were very good, which means the water is well for people and other living organisms to drink or live in. If one of our tests were bad, then people wouldn't be able to drink so they shouldn't live in that watershed. It does not have any bad chemicals that would affect our body or any living organism that drink it or live in it.

Our group thinks that the benthic macro-invertebrates are sensitive to water.

We think that the water quality is really good at both sites because the test that we preformed showed that the water has good quality.

The Swannanoa Creek is really small compared to the Catawba River. The Swannanoa Creek was a lot cleaner then the Catawba River because it was further upstream. The Swannanoa had a lot more shade than the Catawba.

CHEMICAL CHARTS:

BIOLOGICAL CHARTS:

Our hypothesis of the water upstream was cleaner than the water downstream was correct.