Silverton Water Quality Field Work

Abby Allsopp and Acacia Bryson

Task Statement
To begin the task we went to Silverton and did different experiments on the surrounding creeks,
working with pH, temperature, streamflow, turbidity and conductivity. We will have to use the
data that we collected at our different rivers to create sound data and to find what the water
quality of lower Animas River is using our data. The task of this project was to identify data and
make predictions about it.

Introduction
Water Quality seems to be a hot topic in Durango, Co. After the Gold King Mine spill, a fear of
the water systems around us has risen. In this project, we went out into the field to conduct
water quality tests in order to find what kind of water is flowing into our town. We tested three
streams that flow into each other to create the lower Animas river: Cement creek, Mineral
creek, and the Upper Animas. We, as a Junior class, tested these locations on October 12th at
different times throughout the day. Our pod tested Mineral creek from 11:20 to 12:40 in order to
contribute to the class data set. It was important to our learning to be able to do field work and
learn how to conduct ourselves in the field in order in obtain real world skills.

To find the water quality we tested the pH, temperature, turbidity, conductivity, and streamflow of
all three streams. pH is a measurement of the potential hydrogen in a substance but it is better
known as measuring the acidity of a substance. This can tell us a lot about the health of the
river and the types a biodiversity we can find there. Temperature is used to tell us about what
species can thrive in the river, while also explaining why some chemical changes can happen.
Turbidity tells us the concentration of foreign objects in the water. So if a substance has a
turbidity of zero, then that would mean it is pure, clean water. Conductivity tells us how easily a
substance can move energy through it. Water on its own is not conductive but if it has certain
elements in it, then it can conduct. This test is usually used to look at the amount of metals in
the water. Streamflow is just the amount of water flowing through the river. We measure this in
cfs or cubic feet per second. These were the tests that we conducted in the field that day.

When calculating water quality there are a few terms that are necessary: standard deviation,
weighted average, mean, and median. Standard deviation is the amount of inconsistency in a
set of data. A lower standard deviation is ideal in science. Weighted average is an average a
data set, that puts importance on certain factors determined by the individual doing the
calculation. This is commonly used in grades for college. The mean is the average of all the
data which calculated by adding all the number together and dividing by the amount of numbers
added. The median is the number that is in the middle if all the data is lined up by value. You
use both the mean and median to check each other.
Visual

Table 1:These were all the averages found for each creek using data from table 2 as well as the
weighted averages which are titled new.

Table 2: These are the pivot tables that were made in order to find the mean, median, and
standard deviation of each creek. This data was created from the original class data set.

Methods/Process
Some of our methods for finding the data we needed in order to make predictions were getting
all of the averages of the small creeks/rivers. We took all the different data and put them in pivot
tables with the stream flow, turbidity, temperature, pH, and conductivity. At first we had a
problem with our data. There were a lot of places where there was no data. So we had to either
round up or just not take some of the data into our final data. Then once we had it in our pivot
tables we were able to take the average to find what the lower animas river would have. Then
once we did that, we compared to another group. We found that there was something wrong
with our pivot table because we had the same data from the beginning but the information we
got was different than the other groups. Once we fixed our problem with our pivot table, we
checked our answers with the USGS website. And our answers were actually pretty close only
off by a little.

Solutions/Prediction
Our class looked at Mineral creek in our field work. In table 3, all of our final results for the pH,
temperature, turbidity, conductivity, and stream flow. We found these by testing in the field and
calculating in google spreadsheets.

Table 3: The final measurements for pH, temperature, conductivity, turbidity, and streamflow for
Mineral Creek.
Test Subject Final Measurement

pH 7.046666667

Conductivity (uS/cm) 427

Turbidity (NTU) 20.55

Temperature (C) 7.04

Streamflow (cfs) 49.97

With this data and the rest of the class data, we were able to find predictions for the water
quality at the confluence of the lower Animas River. This data can be found in table 4 below.
This data was found using the mean of certain points of data and weighted averages. It was
checked using the median and standard deviation.

Table 4: In this table, there is the final predictions for the water quality of the lower animas
derived from data found at three feeding creeks.
Test Subject Final Predictions
 pH 5.81

Conductivity (uS/cm) 554.57

Turbidity (NTU) 12.96

Temperature (C) 6.88

Streamflow (cfs) 99.51

Our first thought when going about solving the water quality of the lower Animas was to take the
averages of the three creeks and find the average of that. How we did that, for example with pH,
can be demonstrated below in table 5. This process was completed for all water quality factors.
After making these calculations it became clear that all factors taken into consideration should
not be created equal. For example, if a tiny creek flowed into the Mississippi River, it wouldnt
have much effect on the water quality. This need to be taken into account when finding the
water quality of the lower Animas River. To do this we used a calculations called weighted
average which the math behind it can be found in table 5. By doing a weighted average, we
were able to find a more precise calculation of the lower Animas.

The data we found during our lab work was a bit unreliable. While some of the categories like
temperature and pH had consistent data points, other items like conductivity and turbidity had
many outliers and odd data point. In order to look at the reliability of our information we looked
at the median and standard deviation. The median was helpful in looking at the data because if
it was near the mean then we would know that there werent many outliers. This is helpful
because if your mean and median are very different it probably means that you need to
eliminate some outliers. The standard deviation is helpful when looking at the reliability of data
because the higher your standard deviation, the less reliable you data is. I feel very confident in
our temperature and pH data because they had low standard deviations and a similar median
and mean. However I am not confident in our turbidity, conductivity, and streamflow because
there were many outliers, a high standard deviation, and a different mean and median. These
factors have lead us to not feel super confident in any of our data because the streamflow was a
part of our weighted average calculations.

When comparing to the USGS data most of our predictions are relatively close. This is strange
though because our streamflow was very off. This should have led to us getting wrong
predictions but it didnt. I can no explain why or how this happened. The thought that we have is
that maybe the ratio was the same even though the numbers werent the same. In the end I feel
we learned a lot through the experience of having faulty data and it taught us how to problem
solve.
Table 5: All number used in this table are from our spreadsheet in the pH category. These are
examples of how to use the math in order to solve our problem.
Type of Equation Example of math

Mean ( 3.81+7.04+6.34)/ 3=5.73

Weighted Average ( 3.81 0.25) +( 7.04 0.50) +( 6.34 0.21) =
5.81

Standard Deviation x5.73/ 101 =1.67

Median 3.64, 3.7, 3.7, 5.27, 5.5, 7, 7.04. 7.1. 7.1, 7.52 = 6.25

Evaluation -
We thought that this experiment was educationally worthwhile our time because It helped us to
understand how scientist use field work and math in order to make predictions for things they
may not be able to solve other wise.We learned about all the different tests that you can do on
the water. For example pH, conductivity, turbidity, temperature, and streamflow. We learned that
there are can be very different things that affect the quality of our river. We did enjoy working on
this project and We thought it was cool that we got to be outside working for a day. Then being
able to take the data that we collected and use it to learn more about the Animas River was a
great learning opportunity. Even though we really liked doing this project it was also hard for us
to understand at times. Like when we were taking the turbidity and the conductivity, it was hard
for my group because we didnt understand what we were supposed to do exactly. We dont
think that we got the best data on it because it was very different than what everyone else got.
We had a piece of paper that was for us to write down our answers that we got but it might have
been more helpful if we also had a sheet walking through and reminding us how to do that
certain tests. Because I feel like the instruction werent too clear or we could have had some
that we could look back on whenever needed.

Importance
I think that there is a lot of value and importanceimportance of performing field work. For many
reasons we use our river everyday whetherwhether it'sit's using it as our water source, or rafting
down the river. The river flows through our community we use the water everyday. We should be
checking the water quality of our water. Wq . River watching is also important.Our community
depends on our river for water resources and making sure that quality of the water is ok to use
and drink. Testing the pH is an important factor for testing water quality because it lets us know
the level of acidity the water has. If the water is acidic,which is below the pH level of 7, it can be
toxic and potentially dangerous to the people and the aquatic life. Same with turbidity and
streamflow. Its important to test those because turbidity causes a haziness to the water which
can cause harm or make it harder for the organisms in the water to live in that environment.
Streamflow is important to be tested because too fast waters can cause pollutions while smaller
streamflow have a smaller capacity to help get rid of wastes. We love our river and want to take
care of it. If we do not test it then we have no way of knowing what is wrong with it and will not
know how to help take care.

Self evaluation
We believe we deserve an A because we worked very hard on this paper. We sent a lot of time
making sure that our data was as accurate as it could be and we thoughtfully asked questions
when we were unsure. Throughout this whole experiment weve worked to create a paper that
captured our thoughts and explained our findings and I think we did just that. That is why we
deserve an A.