Lost Creek Lab Write-Up

Due to the trees being cut down around Lost Creek, wed like to verify some general predictions
regarding water quality about trees and vegetation around the water. Our main predictions include:

- Increased Turbidity (cloudiness of water, less visible to the bottom)

- Increased Nitrogen Levels
- Increased Phosphorous levels
- Increased Dissolved Oxygen levels
- Increased average temperature of the water
- Increased visible erosion around the creek
- Increased Algae volume

Many of these effects rely on each other. One of the most prominent is the Turbidity. The Turbidity
will increase as the soil is eroded into the creek. On top of the soil erosion, the fact that the trees will no
longer be filtering out fertilizers from around the area will contribute to a small percentage of turbidity
increase.

Since the trees are no longer there to filter out the phosphorous and nitrogen particles, we
expect to see an increase in algae volume, as well as an increase in Nitrogen and Phosphorous levels.
With this increased algae volume, the dissolved oxygen levels are predicted to be higher as well. Finally,
the fact that there is more direct sunlight hitting the creek near the SRC will warm the waters, and will in
return promote algae growth.

We will be comparing the measurement of temperature to the temperature of the baseball

fields area of Lost Creek since there werent any trees there previously. This will give us an indication of
whether removing the trees increased the temperature of the water, and not depend upon what the
temperature of the day is. We will be measuring around 10am on the specific day, just like our previous
trial, and will be taking pictures of any visible erosion or abundance of algae.

DATA

For our data we used a probe to monitor the dissolved oxygen (in both percentage and mg/L),
NTU (turbidity), pH, and temperature. While gathering data with the probe we filled up plastic bottles to
take back to the lab and test in the spectrophotometer.

With the built in programs in the lab to measure Nitrates concentration in mg/L, Phosphates
concentration in mg/L, and Ammonia concentration in mg/L. These tests require preparation of samples
by using specified packets of chemicals to excite the samples and react with certain chemicals within the
water to help identify the values of the concentration.

The last test we did was alkalinity. Alkalinity is the ability for a sample to resist a pH change. We
titrated 0.2M Sulfuric Acid into a 50mL flask of our sample, and through calculations found that
multiplying the mL of Sulfuric Acid used by 20 gave us the value of CaCO2 in mg/L, which is the accepted
measure of alkalinity.
Here are pictures of the specific sites in which we took data, and the data that corresponds to each site.

SITE 1
Bridge between Crapo and the Football field.

DO mg/L DO % Temp C pH NTU Nitrates mg/L Phosphates mg/L Ammonia mg/L

Site 1 Old 12.17 99.7 6.36 8.39 2.9 1.7 N/A N/A
Site 1 New 9.79 98.1 15.43 8.48 -3.0 1.2 2.26 0.30
Change -2.38 +0.4 +9.07 +0.09 -5.9 -0.5 N/A N/A
 SITE 2
Bridge between Deming and SRC

DO mg/L DO % Temp C pH NTU Nitrates mg/L Phosphates mg/L Ammonia mg/L

Site 2 Old 12.31 100.8 6.51 8.37 6.4 0.9 N/A N/A
Site 2 New 11.39 114.2 15.45 8.48 71.1 1.2 3.41 N/A
Change -0.92 +13.4 +8.94 +0.11 +64.7 +0.3 N/A N/A
 SITE 3
Bridge between Union and SRC

DO mg/L DO % Temp C pH NTU Nitrates mg/L Phosphates mg/L Ammonia mg/L

Site 3 Old 12.62 103.7 6.61 8.42 2.2 1.6 N/A N/A
Site 3 New 11.47 115.1 15.49 8.43 -3.0 4.9 0.52 0.29
Change -1.15 +11.4 +8.88 +0.01 -5.2 +3.3 N/A N/A
 SITE 4
Bridge between Triplets and SRC

DO mg/L DO % Temp C pH NTU Nitrates mg/L Phosphates mg/L Ammonia mg/L

Site 4 Old 12.77 105.1 6.51 8.34 2.1 0.6 N/A N/A
Site 4 New 11.49 115.5 15.58 8.50 11.2 4.7 0.62 N/A
Change -1.28 +10.4 +9.07 +0.16 +7.1 +4.1 N/A N/A
 SITE 5
Bridge between Lakeside and baseball fields

DO mg/L DO % Temp C pH NTU Nitrates mg/L Phosphates mg/L Ammonia mg/L

Site 5 Old 11.42 97.4 8.15 8.35 9.5 0.8 N/A N/A
Site 5 New 13.11 130.3 14.99 8.61 -3.0 4.2 1.99 0.19
Change +1.69 +32.9 +6.84 +0.26 -12.5 +3.4 N/A N/A
 ALKALINITY:
Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 5
Mg/L CaCO2 15 25 16 20 22

DATA ANALYSIS
Sites 1 and 2 are sites where the banks of the creek werent messed with. There are still trees
and other plant life on the banks, and it shows not much change other than with randomness in the
tests for these sites. Sites 3 and 4 are where our predictions started to come into play. With all of the
trees cut down on the bank of the creek around these areas, the water quality had gone down in most
cases in accordance with out predictions.

Algae was barely noticeable in the creek, and we didnt bother to take any pictures because the
data would have been irrelevant and inconclusive.

Nitrate levels increased in areas where there were less trees, specifically in sites 3 and 4. We
had predicted that with less trees, the nitrate levels would be sharply increased.

Dissolved oxygen (by percentage) had increased in every site that we tested. Since it was
consistent across the board, we did not attribute this increase to the deforestation of Lost Creek.

Dissolved oxygen (by mg/L) had decreased in every site except for our control site (the
baseball field bridge). We strongly believe that there is a correlation between less trees and dissolved
oxygen in our prediction, and the fact that our control site had actually gone up but all others had gone
down supports our predictions.

Temperature was an uninteresting measurement today. Every spot we measured was within a
half of a degree Celsius of each other. We had expected to have a noticeable change in temperature, but
our predictions were proven wrong.

pH levels were an uninteresting measurement today as well. The pH was a nearly constant value
throughout the creek, and in comparison with the previously measured values, there was almost no
change. We had exaggerated the predictions, and they were proven wrong once again.

NTU, or turbidity, was an inconsistent value with this testing. One of our waders nearly fell into
the creek during one of the samples, and kicked up some of the dirt on the bottom of the creek. This
resulted in a very large value for turbidity at Site 2. Other than this site, the only other increase was at
Site 4, and we have chosen to de-emphasize this value because we cannot link these increases and
decreases to any specific variables.

As for Phosphate concentrations, Ammonia Concentrations, and Alkalinity, we didnt have any
values for these measurements in previous testings, and will serve as the baseline for the next group in
measuring the quality of the creek.
 The following picture shows erosion that was observed consistently down the creek only in
areas without trees on the bank. We predicted that the bank without the trees would be deteriorated
much more noticeably than areas with trees, and was proven true.
 CONCLUSION
From this minilab we can conclude that the areas of the creek in which the trees were cut down
have some differences in water quality. Variables that changed always changed in accordance with our
predictions, though some did not change at all. With the decreased number of trees on the creek bank,
we will continue to see poorer water quality measurements as time goes on. We are hoping that the
creek is returned to previous conditions as soon as possible.

We documented all of our variables in units that they were measured, and documented the
testing sites the best we could so that data could be recreated with an identical procedure.

Ive included the project hours breakdown below:

Hours for Predictions Hours for Testing Hours for write-up Total
Karina Colotl 1.5 0 0 1.5
Chris Corry 1.5 3 1.5 6
Victoria Lucero 1.5 3 1.5 6
Alex Tester 1.5 3 1.5 6
Justin Vogel 1.5 3 1.5 6
 Predictions and by who:

Karina

- Increased Erosions (soil in creek, more phosphorous particles)

- Bringing up water and nutrients into soil (soil is less rich)
- Excess of nutrients in the creek
- Less moisture, less transpiration

Chris

- Increased Erosion
- Increased nitrogen levels increased algae
- not healthy or unhealthy
- Increased sediment
- Increased plantlife around/in water (increased Dissolved Oxygen level)
- Potential contamination from oil fields not being cleaned from trees

Victoria

- Algae from increased temp and openness

- Fertilizers in creek because less to stop it
- Erosion of sides, more shallow creek

Alex

- Turbidity goes up because of soil in water

- Pollutants from soil
- In respect to temp by baseball fields, these temps will be closer
- Visible soil erosion

Vogel

- Increase in Nitrogen levels

- Increase in dissolved oxygen levels
- Eroded sides of the creek because soil will be softer and less dense
- Increased turbidity of the water because of the loose soil mentioned