Group+A

**Steven Woody Amanda Fortune Casey Trejo Robby Benedict Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 Mr.Kirk Earth and Environmental Science 4th Period
 * Stream Study Lab 

We determine water quality, by testing the stream for pH, Chlorine, Phosphates, Nitrates, Dissolved Oxygen(DO), Turbitity, and Temperature. It's important because we need to know what can and what can not enter our bodies.If you drink alot of this water you can become very sick and it can possibally kill you. **ARE YOU 100% SURE THAT THE FISH YOU ARE CATCHING AND EATING ARE NOT POISONED?** It is also important to know if the water we are around is safe, or if there are any chemicals in the water. If the water was to have any chemicals, we would have aquatic organisms and woodland creatures inffected. We are comparing water samples from Swannanoa Creek and Catawba River. We hypothesized that the water quality may have atleast been some what inffected. We thought this, because of all the farm and road runoff.
 * Introduction:**

We used test tubes, tablets, micro-invertebrates sheet, direction sheet, data sheet, cup, and thermometer. ~DIRECTIONS FOR WATER TESTS~ DO 1. Fill the tube up with water until it reaches the line 2. Put the tablet in the test tube and shake the test tube until tablet dissolves completely 3. Wait 5 minutes 4. Compare your results with the data sheet 5. Record your analysis
 * Materials and Methods**:

Nitrates 1. Fill the tube up with water until it reaches the line 2. Insert the tablet and shake the tube until it dissolves completely 3. Compare your results to the data sheet

We partnered up and got water sample kits. All the instructions were inside the kits.


 * Results**:

SAMPLE #1

Stream:_Swannanoa Creek_ Watershed:_Mill_Creek_(Catawba_River)

CHEMICAL DO:_4%__ Nitrates:_0_ppm_ pH:_7_ Phosphates:_0.5_ppm_ Chlorine:_0_ppm_ Turbidity:_0_JTU_

PHYSICAL Temperature: upstream:_14_degrees_C downstream:_14_degrees_C Shade?_yes_ Riffle, run, or pool?_yes,_all_3

BIOLOGICAL


 * Species || # counted  ||
 * Water Penny || 6  ||
 * Stone Fly || 1  ||
 * <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">Midge || <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">1  ||
 * <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">May Fly || <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">2  ||
 * <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">Caddis Fly || <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">5  ||
 * <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">Crane Fly || <span style="color: rgb(254, 234, 82)"><span style="color: rgb(244, 164, 87)">1  ||

Other observations:_Cold_wheather_and_a_good_amount_of_crawdads. We also saw some litter on the side of the Catawba River. For example, pieces of old tire, trash, etc.

<span style="color: rgb(25, 31, 200)">SAMPLE #2 Stream:_Catawba_ Watershed:_Catawba_

CHEMICAL DO:_41%_ Nitrates:_1_ppm_ pH:_9_ Phosphates:_1_ppm_ Chlorine:_0_ppm_ Turbidity:_0_JTU

PHYSICAL Temperature: Upstream:_18_Degrees_C Downstream:_18_Degrees_C Shade?_Some_ Riffle, run, or pool?_Riffle_

BIOLOGICAL (Did not get to studying the biological part of the sampling.)

Other observations:_Snakes,_frogs,_and_fish.

Our results explain what kind of water quality we have. This graph shows the difference in PPM for Dissolved Oxygen. In the Catawba River and the Swannanoa Creek. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"><span style="color: rgb(225, 92, 20)"> The Catawba River has more dissolved oxygen than the Swannanoa Creek.
 * Discussion**:


 * Benthic Macroinvertebrates || Sensitivity ||
 * Water Penny || Sensitive ||
 * Stone Fly || Sensitive ||
 * Midge || Tolerant ||
 * May Fly || Sensitive ||
 * These are some of the benthic macroinvertebrates that we found, and how tolerant they are to pollution. ||  ||

We can say that our water quality is nearly perfect, as far as what our results tell us. As far as we know, we cannot specify if the water has any microorganisms, such as viruses/bacterias that could possibly harm us.

Biological Graph