To go to my graphs click here
.
To learn more about the Chesapeake Bay click
here.
Moore’s Branch Creek Water Quality Analysis
Moore’s Branch Creek is a healthy body of water located
on the Park School Campus, in Brooklandville Maryland. Moore’s Branch
Creek is part of the Jones Falls watershed, which is part of the Chesapeake
watershed. Moore’s Branch Creek flows into the Lake Roland, which
flows into the Jones Falls, which then goes to the Patapsco River, and finally
the Chesapeake Bay. Therefore, any pollution that goes into our little creek
can go a long way, to a big bay.
I’ve made some graphs showing how healthy Moore’s
Branch Creek really is. My graphs consist of, air and water temperatures,
dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, turbidity, and macro invertebrates. First,
the air temperature was going up as the days went by, but there was one
exception to this. From April 22nd to April 23rd there was no change. The
water temperature varied in a range from 9.8°C to 13.8°C.
Both temperature ranges are healthy. The turbidity graph didn’t change
much. On April 17th there was 49cm turbidity. This is because
it was raining. The raining stirred up all the sediments, making
our creek a little unhealthy for anything living in it. Then on the
21st it went up to 60+cm, with no rain. Then from the 21st to the 25th
it just stayed at 60+cm. This is fine and healthy. Next, my
DO graph had a very small range. It went from 9 parts per million (ppm),
to 10.6 ppm. This to is in a healthy range. Moving on to ph,
it had the smallest range of all my graphs. Its any where from level
6 pH, to level 7 pH. The healthy range is any where from 6.5-7.5, so
once or twice that graph fell under the healthy range. Finally on the last
graph, we have macro invertebrates. In case you don’t know macro invertebrates
are little tiny living bugs. There are 3 groups these creatures could
be in. The least amount of creatures is in-group 1 because they’re
the most sensitive to pollution. Group 2 varies, some can take the
pollution, and others can’t. Group 3 is the “toughest” group when
it comes to pollution, and surviving the easiest, making them the largest
group. In the first group we have caddisflies. Per every
bunch of dirt you kick up in Moore’s Branch Creek, you’ll probably kick
up about 0-10 caddisflies too. This is pretty consistent in our tests.
In-group 2 there are craneflies and beetle larva. Per every kick of
dirt in Moore’s Branch Creek you’ll probably get about 10 craneflies, and
5-beetle larvas. In the last group, group 3 you have midge fly larvae,
which are the most plentiful creature in Moore’s Branch Creek. There
are also Aquatic Worms, and black fly larvae. Per each kick of dirt
in Moore’s Branch Creek you’ll probably get about 39 Midge fly larva’s,
15 –25 Aquatic worms, and 0-5 black fly larva’s. That’s a lot of healthy
life in one or two kick seines of dirt.
The air temperature is always way ahead of water temperature,
and some times air temperature goes up and water temperature goes down.
This is partly because, there are trees shading the creek, slowing down
the waters warming process. The greater the pH the less the group
one animals because they can’t take the acid. The acid doesn’t really
affect group 3 animals, and only some group 2 animals. So this means
group 3 out numbers the other 2 groups by more macro invertebrates.
The water temperature affects the DO graph. When the water temperature
is up DO is down. Cold water contains more DO. Also the DO
gives the macro invertebrates the oxygen they need to survive in the water.
When the DO is up more macro invertebrates survive. Next, high turbidity
kills the macro invertebrates. If sediments are stirred up they choke
up any living thing in the water, and high turbidity can do that.
The most simple way to keep our creek healthy, and
all the bodies of water it goes into clean, is just don’t pollute.
Of course its very unlikely that no one will ever pollute just because people
say not to. Also polluting isn’t always on purpose. Sometimes
the wind will take a candy wrapper, or a piece of paper for a ride right
into our creek, or another body of water. If we wanted to get drastic
we could set up small fines for littering. Or we could have people
come out to clean and patrol streams and creeks, and for deeper waters like
the Chesapeake bay, we would have patrols and use boats specialized to clean
up litter, and pollution. That would be called an action plan.
