Student Research Reports
Everything Ends Up Downstream
Organization(s):Alpena Elementary/Middle School
Country:United States of America
Student(s):Lindsay Dunsing
Grade Level:Middle School (grades 6-8, ages 11-14)
GLOBE Teacher:Roger Glenn Rose
Contributors:
Report Type(s):Standard Research Report, U.S. Student Research Symposia (SRS)
Protocols:Clouds, Air Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Relative Humidity, pH, Water Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrates, Conductivity, Alkalinity, Water Transparency
Language(s):English
Date Submitted:06/17/2020
This project is the result of an investigation using GLOBE protocols to analyze the water quality of Long Creek before and after is passes through Alpena, Arkansas. It is predicted that the Long Creek water samples collected downstream from Alpena will have significantly higher levels of phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, alkalinity, TDS (total dissolved solids), and EC (electrical conductivity), than the samples collected upstream from the town. It is also predicted that the downstream samples will have significantly lower levels of dissolved oxygen, pH, and transparency.
Long Creek water samples were collected at two similar locations upstream and downstream from Alpena, AR. Using the GLOBE protocols for Integrated Hydrology, samples were tested for temperature, phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, alkalinity, TDS, EC, dissolved oxygen, pH, and transparency. 5 tests were conducted for each location.
Water Temperature: Location-A=10.0˚C, Location-B=9.98˚C, Water Transparency: Location-A=107.8cm, Location-B=80.6cm, EC: Location-A=162 µS/cm, Location-B=194.8 µS/cm, TDS: Location-A=77.2ppm, Location-B=99.6ppm,pH Location-A=7.96pH, Location-B=7.52pH, Dissolved Oxygen: Location-A=9.76mg/L, Location-B=9.8mg/L, Alkalinity: Location-A=73.6mg/L, Location-B=84mg/L, Nitrate: Location-A=2.58mg/L, Location-B=2.56mg/L, Phosphate: Location-A=0.2ppm, Location-B=0.45ppm, All of the tests for Nitrite and Ammonia showed 0.0 levels for each.
The hypothesis was mostly supported. The statistics t-Test showed a significant difference in Water Transparency, EC, TDS, pH, Alkalinity, and Phosphates. However, according to the t-Tests there was not a significant difference in Dissolved Oxygen. The samples downstream had the less desirable readings. In the future, the researcher would like to continue to test the locations for Long Creek to monitor them in the spring, summer, fall and adding more locations.