Streams

1
Streams

• By Katie Sirianni

2
(No Transcript)
3
Question

• What affect does the environment of a stream have
  on the stream itself, with regards to water
  quality?

4
Experiment

• To determine the effect of the environment on a
  streams health and water quality, I ran tests on
  several area streams that are in different
  settings.
• Beaver Creek is in a natural setting, Otter Creek
  is in an urban setting, and Fall Creek and Bears
  Grass Creek are both in agricultural settings.
• They are all part of the Lower Chippewa River
  Basin Watershed.

5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
Hypothesis

• I predict that the environment will have a
  significant affect on the health and water
  quality of streams.

8
Tests

• DO- Dissolved Oxygen- The amount of oxygen
  dissolved in the water, it is significant because
  aquatic animals need to be able to breathe just
  like land animals.
• 5-6 ppm are usually required to support fish.
• The amount of DO is determined by salinity,
  temperature, and organic materials.

9
Testing the DO content of Fall Creek
10
Tests

• FBI- Family Biotic Index- This test determines
  the quality of a stream based on what
  macro-invertebrates are found in it.
• The idea is that in unpolluted water there will
  be a greater diversity of organisms, and that in
  polluted water there will be less diversity and
  more tolerant organisms.

11
All of the identified macro-invertebrates.
12
Tests- FBI Procedure

• To do the FBI, you collect 100 macro-invertebrates
  and classify all of them. They have all been
  given a number between 0 and 10.
• Once theyve all been classified, you take the
  average number, and that is the streams rating.
  0 is the best score, and 10 is the worst.

13
Macro-invertebrates
Chironomidae 6
Brachycentridae 1
Emphemerellidae 1
Athericidae 2
Perlidae 1
14
(No Transcript)
15
Tests

• Phosphorus and Nitrate- This is tested with a
  spectrophotometer.
• These can be a problem in streams because they
  cause plants to grow, which can decrease the DO
  of the streams, and lead to eutrophication.

16
The spectrophotometer, used to measure the amount
of phosphorus and nitrate in the water.
17
Tests

• Stream Flow- the rate at which the water in a
  stream is flowing. It is important because it
  keeps the water from becoming to stagnant and
  warm.
• To measure it, I took a reading with a flow
  monitor at 1 foot intervals across the stream,
  and measured the depth at the same places. To
  find the flow rate of the whole streams, I added
  up all the depths and all the flow rates
  separately and multiplied them together.

18
Testing at Bears Grass Creek
19
Stream Stats
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
Beaver Creek

• Flow Rate .057m3/sec.
• DO 12.06 mg/L (temp 1.2)
• Phosphorus .073 mg/L P
• Nitrate .55mg/L NO3
• FBI Rating 1.85

26
Otter Creek

• DO 12.42 mg/L (temp .5)
• Phosphorus .263 mg/L P
• Nitrate 2.333 mg/L NO3
• FBI Rating 2.45
• Flow Rate .485

27
Bears Grass Creek

• Flow Rate .08m3/sec
• DO 12.2 mg/L (temp1.3)
• Phosphorus .303 mg/L P
• Nitrate 2.567 mg/L NO3
• FBI Rating 1.74

28
Fall Creek

• Flow Rate .035m3/sec
• DO 10.6 mg/L (temp 1.6)
• Phosphorus .403 mg/L P
• Nitrate 2.167 mg/L NO3
• FBI Rating 3.89

29
Conclusion

• The setting of a stream does influence the health
  of a stream, although not nearly as much as I
  thought it would.
• The reason it influences the health so much is
  because of the amount of riparian buffer it has,
  and also the type of things (i.e. fertilizer)
  that might flow into it a certain setting but not
  in others.

30
Measuring the depth of Beaver Creek
31
Testing at Bears Grass Creek
32
Getting ready to test at Beaver Creek
33
THE END!!!