Atlantia, Wes, Marilyn

9/16/17
Silverton

Introduction

In this project we are trying to calculate the streamflow, conductivity, pH, turbidity,
and temperature of the Animas river below the confluence, using data from its tributaries.
Doing this would give us the affected water quality of the Animas river and its tributaries,
along with how the water quality issues we have in the Animas river watershed are related
to other water quality issues in the broader Colorado river shed. We would also find the
role of scientific investigation and monitoring in managing water quality in the Colorado
watershed.
Chemistry involves the following terms, streamflow, turbidity, temperature, pH, and
conductivity. Streamflow is the amount of water in a stream or river, and is a major
element of the water cycle. Turbidity is a measurement of the amount eliminated material
in the water, and it illustrates the clarity of the water. Eliminated materials in the water
like, clay, silt, and algae reduce the water quality and causes high turbidity. In chemistry,
the pH measures how acidic basic water is, the range goes from 0-14, neutral being 7. If the
pH shows it being lower than 7, then it indicates acidity. If the pH was higher than 7 it
would indicates a base. In a pH scale the lower the number, the greater the concentration of
hydrogen ions and the greater the materials acidity. The more basic/alkaline a substance is
the more hydroxide ions are in it. Conductivity is how easy it is to transfer energy through
itself.
Weighted average is the mean calculated by giving values in a data set, it is an
average in which each quantity to be averaged is assigned a weight. The mean, median, and
mode are all valid measures of central tendency, but under different conditions. Some
measures of central tendency become more appropriate to use than others depending on
the situation, for example when using mean is the more popular and well known measure
because the mean is equal to the sum of all a values in a data set. The median is the middle
score for a set of data that has been arranged in order of magnitude, and is less affected by
outliers and skewed data. The mode is the most frequent score in a data set.
Measures of variability are statistical procedures to describe how spread out the
data set is, and they are maximum, minimum, range, and standard deviation. The range is a
single number representing the spread of the data. The maximum and minimum are pretty
self explanatory, the maximum is the largest value in a data set and the minimum is the
smallest value in a data set. The Standard deviation tells us how far we are from the mean,
to calculate this you need to find the average, calculate the the deviations ( scores minus
the average), sum up the squared deviations, divided by total number of values in the set,
and take the square root of the numbers.

Visual Representation

Table 1:
AVERAGE of AVERAGE of AVERAGE of AVERAGE of
Temperature Turbidity Conductivity Streamflow AVERAGE of
(C) (NTU) (uS/cm) (cfs) pH

Cement
Creek 9.483333333 6.46 989 28.94 3.818

Mineral
Creek 6.88 20.55 427 49.966 7.046666667

Upper
Animas 4.72 17.565 448.75 20.60 6.3475

Predictions
for Animas 7.027777778 14.85833333 621.5833333 99.51 5.737388889

Table 2:
Temperature Turbidity Conductivity Streamflow pH

Final 7 14.363 574.3333333 112 5.73

Predictions

Methods and Process

During the field trip, group was only able to perform three calculations. Those were
the streamflow, pH, and temperature measurements. For pH and temperature, we needed
help finding equipment and assembling it. It helped us fully understand and complete the
experiment. However, our pH probe was not calibrating and seemed to be off by one. This
caused our measurements to be off by one as well. We were rushed at the end so we had no
time to recalibrate the machine. The equipment we used was a digital thermometer, pH
probe, acidic and basic samples for calibration, tape measure, yard stick, bobber, rubber
boots, and deionized water. After we collected our data, we entered it all into a personal
spreadsheet and a class spreadsheet. Using the class data, we averaged all the data of each
creek. At first, we decided the best way to calculate an estimate of the data of the lower
Animas was to average all of the averages together. However, we soon recognized that
Mineral Creek accounted for about 50 percent of the lower Animas so we decided to do a
weighted average calculation instead. The weighted average wound up being our final
estimate. Our final data matches up with other groups data and the official data fairly well
so for the most part our data is accurate.

Solutions/Predictions

The solution we came to as a mean to predict what the Animas river would look like
below the confluence was to use various calculations to predict the water quality below the
confluence. Turbidity, pH, conductivity and temperature were all calculated by averaging
the averages of the three streams. An issue we realised with this method is that each
stream contributes a different percent to the total below the tributary, making these
answers less accurate. A better method is using weighted averages to determine each
streams contribution to the water quality below the tributary. We calculated streamflow by
finding the sum of the three streams. This is doesnt have any glaring issues like the
previous equations because when three streams come together the amount of water is
those streams combined.
Doing this fieldwork helps us understand our environment and determine whether
or not it is healthy. We can use this data to either help maintain a healthy environment or
restore an unhealthy one. As long as we collect data and keep it we can know the original
state of the environment. We can use this recorded data to determine how we can restore
the off balance environment to its original state. As long as we know how the environment
used to be, we can always find a way to restore it. A simple example would be, we have data
and evidence to show that thistle is an invasive species and therefore should be removed to
protect the native plants which are being overrun by the thistle. If even the smallest thing
in a habitat is altered, it causes a chain of events which usually impact the whole ecosystem
in a drastic way. This can cause the endangerment and/or the extinction of many species of
plants and animals. This is why it is important to preserve ecosystems as they are in order
to protect the plants and animals that can only exist in a limited habitat. This can be applied
to the water as well. If there is too much of one factor it can throw the whole ecosystem off
balance. By monitoring the water we can know what to change and what to maintain in
order to keep the water consistently at the place it needs to be. We can help the quality of
the water by simply not polluting it with any foreign substances. The Earth is quite good at
healing itself when something happens however, it harms the community and temporarily
affects the habitats around it. By keeping foreign chemicals and elements out of the water
we can maintain a healthy ecosystem that every living thing is comfortable with.

Self-Assessment

Our group believes that we deserve A for the efforts we have put into this project.
We divided the workload equally and worked together in order to complete the essay. Each
of us put a great quantity of effort into our sections. We refined each other's work and for
the most part used our class time wisely. Occasionally we would stray off task but that is
pretty typical when working on something for a long period of time.