Water Quality In Lake St' Clair

1
Water Quality In Lake St. Clair
Grosse Pointe North High SchoolBrian H., Mark
B., Brandon D., Michael M., Will C., and Ryan M.
2
Special Thanks!
Wayne County RESA for hosting this
symposium Wayne State UniversityMonroe Public
Schools The partners who helped us research
Wayne State UniversityANOVA and t testsDr.
Osman Kaya Macomb County Health Department
Environmental Health Services DivisionDr. Jim
BuzonikDr. Steven Schmidt
3
H2O
Water
Water is the common connection in all three of
the Grosse Pointe Research Projects! Water is a
simple molecule 2 hydrogen atoms and 1
oxygen However, when studying the quality of a
body of water many factors and several indicators
must be considered. To look at only one variable
at a time limits the scope of thinking needed to
explain changes in water quality over the last
several years. Our explanation is a synergistic
onelooking at multiple indicators and
the synergistic effects and affects of these
indicators.
4
Abstract

• Our objective is to
• Compare the water of Lake St. Clair at specific
  sites,
• on a specific day, at a specific time with data
  collected
• by Macomb County Health Department
• Compare our findings with standards set by
  scientific
• organizations for water quality
• Explain the impact of our findings on the overall
  water
• quality at two sites, near shore, in lake St.
  Clair

5

• We went out on a 19 foot boat on May 5th 2007 and
  collected data from the Milk River on shore, n1
• and the coast guard station, n4.
• We tested for pH, turbidity,dissolved oxygen,
  temperature, and conductivity.

6
Experiment Location

• This is a Google Earth picture that features the
  locations of our test sites.

n4
North 42 degrees 28.189 West 82 degrees
52.445 Depth 10 feet
n1
North 42 degrees 27.618 West 82 degrees
52.503 Depth 4 feet
7
Our study looked at the following indicators of
Water Quality
pH a measure of the acid base of the water in
which most aquatic organisms have a limited
range for survival. A pH of 7 is neutral and
most aquatic surface water has a range pH 6 to
pH 8. Both fluctuations in pH and pH above 8
are harmful to most aquatic life, especially
during development of eggs and larvae. Changes
in the pH may elevate the concentrations of
other elements to higher toxicity and amplify
their effects. It is known that
photosynthesis (aquatic plants) consumes
carbon dioxide which results in a rise in pH.
Cellular respiration (aquatic plants and
animals) releases carbon dioxide and lowers
the pH.
8
Temperature Probe
9
Turbidity measures the waters lack of clarity
for recreational purposes lakes should have a
turbidity of 5 NTU
Highly turbid waters clog the gills of fish and
after the sediment settles out of the water
column the particles may smother the fish eggs.
Temperature a physical characteristic that can
determine the rate of biochemical reactions in
the aquatic environment
Conductivity the measure of waters ability to
conduct an electrical current through dissolved
ions. These ions include sodium, calcium,
potassium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, chloride,
sulfate, carbonate, and bicarbonate.
10
pH Calibration to known pH
pH 4
pH 10
pH 7
11
Our study looked at the following indicators of
Water Quality
Dissolved oxygen measures oxygen gas dissolved
in water which is vital to aquatic
life Dissolved Oxygen is a necessary component
of cellular respiration and without oxygen the
mitochondria do not produce ATP energy.
Aquatic organisms have an optimal range of
dissolved oxygen. Oxygen demanding materials
and plant nutrients are common substances
discharged to the environment by man's
activities, through wastewater facilities and
by agricultural, residential, and storm water
runoff.
12
Statement Of Problem

• Lake St. Clair is notorious for having POOR WATER
  QUALITY.
• There are recorded unsafe, levels of E. coli
  bacteria, untreated
• sewage overflow after heavy rains, and beach
  closings.
• Our research includes testing the water of the
  lake for pH, turbidity,
• dissolved oxygen levels, temperature in order to
  quantify the water
• quality. We will then analyze our data and
  compare our means with the means from previous,
  similar studies done through the Macomb
• County Health Department.
• Our questions included, but are not limited to
• How do the means or our research compare in a
  longitudinal analysis to
• Macomb Countys means and what conclusions can
  we draw?
• How do the water quality indicators we tested
  indicate a point source of
• pollution from drain pipes, street run off, and
  sewer overflow?
• How are humans affecting the water quality
  aspects in Lake St. Clair and how
• will humans be affected by the water quality in
  Lake St. Clair?

13
Significance of Study

• Our study is significant because we are testing
• from sites that serve as a control for our
  results.
• Many people get their drinking water from Lake
  St. Clair,
• fish from Lake St. Clair to eat, and spend time
  playing on the lake.
• A scientific look at the indicators of water
  quality
• together with our logical connection to the
  sewer run-off
• being pumped into the lake is important for our
  society to consider.
• Freshwater is less than 1 of the water on this
  earth and all living things depend on it. We
  believe that water is even more essential to our
  existence than oil.
• The quality of that water determines our future
  on this planet.

14
Ti 84 silver edition graphing calculators and
Logger Pro
15
Data Analysis

• data was saved to the ti-84 graphing calculator
• we interfaced the ti-84 graphing calculators with
  the computer and downloaded the data into
  Microsoft excel
• We calculated the means and standard deviations
  for all of our tests at each site to ensure that
  our data was good data.
• We took a minimum of 34 samples and a maximum of
  154 samples for each test run. Tests were
  repeated to ensure accuracy.

16
Results/Discussion

• After the data analysis of ANOVA and t
• tests, we found that there were many
• statistically significant findings within our
• data and when our data was compared to
• that of Macomb County.

17
t-test results for On-Shore, n1
p lt 0.0001 p lt 0.01
18
Temperature is statistically significant. Water
temperature near shore has increased compared to
Macombs data Climate Change?
19
Highly turbid waters clog the gills of fish and
after the sediment settles out of the water
column the particles may smother the fish
eggs.
For recreational purposes lakes should have a
turbidity of 5 NTUor less.
Run off ?Sewer ? Human ?
20
Longitudinal Look at Data
21
It is known that photosynthesis (aquatic
plants) consumes carbon dioxide which results
in a rise in pH. Is the rise in pH due to
photosynthesis a natural process? If so, then
there should be a rise in Dissolved Oxygen which
is given off by the process of photosynthesis.
Lets look at Dissolved Oxygen Data!
22
Dissolved oxygen is decreasing Which rules out
the pH rise due to photosynthesis. Dissolved
oxygen is lower in water filled with sediment,
E.Coli, etc (turbidity) and solutes
(conductivity). The water tested in Lake St.
Clair shows Lowering do data, Increasing temps,
increasing Turbidity, increasing Conductivity,
and Increasing pH. We conclude
23
(No Transcript)
24
Conclusions
We did not measure pollution or E. Coli levels
directly and we know that the sewage is being
pumped into the lake especially after rain
storms. We did measure indicators that allow us
to, by proxy reasoning, determine that sewer
run-off should reasonably be considered the
point source of the problem.
Home