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2009 Shell Creek
Watershed Study
Advisors – Mark Seier & Suzy Goedeken
Researchers –Katie O’Brien, Olivia Wiese, Jonathon
Dohmen, Jake Kaufman, Mark O’Brien, April Ramaekers,
Aubrey Strong, Audrey Wondercheck, Greg Roberg, Lila
Wondercheck, Kendra Nelson, Ciera Afrank, Alisha
Dunlap, Joan O’Brien
(with Township-Range Labels)
Shell Creek and Loseke-Taylor Creek Watersheds
Lower Platte North Natural Resources District
6
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 6
Site 5
W.Q.I.
• The Water Quality Index was developed by the
National Sanitation Foundation as a standard
system to compare different bodies of water.
• To determine the WQI, a series of nine tests
were performed. These tests were: dissolved
oxygen, fecal coliform, pH, Biological Oxygen
Demand (BOD), temperature, total phosphate,
nitrates, turbidity, and total solids. We also did
a water discharge test which we use to
measure the flow of the creek in cubic feet per
second.
• After the tests are completed, the WQI for each
section of the creek can be computed.
• To formulate the WQI, we first computed Q-
values.
• We multiply this number by a weighting factor,
which provides a measure of the relative
importance of each test to overall water quality.
• The water quality index ranges from zero to 100.
- 0 - 25 is very bad - 25 - 50 is bad - 50 - 70 is medium - 70 - 90 is good- 90 - 100 is excellent
• The bio-indicator tests weren’t part of W.Q.I., but
did give us a water quality rating.
Sample W.Q.I. Curve Chart
Sample W.Q.I. Form
Test Results Q-value
Weighting
Factor Total
DO % sat. 0.17
Fecal Coliform col/100 mL 0.16
pH units 0.11
BOD mg/L 0.11
Temperature change in C 0.1
Total Phosphate mg/L 0.1
Nitrates mg/L 0.1
Turbidity JTU 0.08
Total Solids mg/L 0.07
Overall Water Quality Index
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
May June July August
Inc
he
s2009 Precipitation
Rainfall
6.3
6.6
6.9
7.2
7.5
7.8
8.1
8.4
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
pH
Level
Date
pH
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
-3
-2.5
-2
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
May22 June 23 July 23 August 6
Deg
rees C
elciu
s
Date
Change in Water Temperature
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
The higher the change, the worse the water quality.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
mg
/L
Date
Total Solids
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
The higher the concentration, the worse the water quality.
Fecal Coliform
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
colon
ies/1
00
m
L
Date
Fecal Coliform
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
colon
ies/1
00
m
L
Date
Fecal Coliform
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
In 2006
Site 1- 21,418
Site 5- 17,800
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
Cu
bic feet p
er secon
d
Date
Flow
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
JTU
's
Date
Turbidity
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
Turbidity On July 23, 2009
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
% Sa
tu
ra
tion
Date
Dissolved Oxygen
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
pp
m
Date
5 Day Biological Oxygen Demand
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
The higher the change, the worse the water quality.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
pp
m
Date
Nitrates
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
pp
m
Date
Nitrates
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6
pp
m
Date
Phosphates
Site 1
Site 2
Site 3
Site 4
Site 5
Site 6
45
50
55
60
65
70
Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 6 Site 5
WQ
IWQI Averages by Site
2003 Averages 2004 Averages 2005 Averages 2006 Averages
2007 Averages 2008 Averages 2009 Averages
Medium
Bad
Good
45
50
55
60
65
70
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
WQ
ITotal WQI Averages by Year
WQI
Good
Bad
Medium
45
50
55
60
65
70
May June July August
WQ
I
Month
WQI Averages by Date
2003 Averages 2004 Averages 2005 Averages
2006 Averages 2007 Averages 2008 Averages
2009 Averages
Bad
Medium
Good
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Total Rainfall Inches
Discharge CFS Nitrates ppm pH
2003 - 2009 Chemical Test Average Comparisons
2003 Averages
2004 Averages
2005 Averages
2006 Averages
2007 Averages
2008 Averages
2009 Averages
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Phosphates ppm B.O.D. ppm Change in Temp. Celcius
2003 - 2009 Chemical Test Average Comparisons
2003 Averages
2004 Averages
2005 Averages
2006 Averages
2007 Averages
2008 Averages
2009 Averages
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
D.O. % Sat. Turbidity JTU Fecal Coliform Colonies/100
mL
Total Solids mg/L
2003 - 2009 Chemical Test Average Comparisons
2003 Averages
2004 Averages
2005 Averages
2006 Averages
2007 Averages
2008 Averages
2009 Averages
*2006 Fecal Coliform
Average 8,058 col/100 mL
Chemical Test Conclusions
• Fecal Coliform is down, but still erratic
• Less Rainfall seems to effect our data
• Site 1 has significantly higher nitrates
• WQI is increasing downstream
• D.O. is still low
• Very high correlation between nitrates
and flow
Macro Invertebrates
Sample Bio-Indicator Data Form
Beaver-Shell Creek
WQI Comparison
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
May-09 Jun-09 Jul-09 Aug-09 Summer
Average
09
Summer
Average
08
WQI
Beaver Creek
Average WQI
Shell Creek
Average WQI
Beaver-Shell Creek Comparison
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
pH Nitrates Phosphates B.O.D
Beaver Creek
Shell Creek
Beaver-Shell Creek Comparison
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Turbidity Fecal
Coliform
Total Solids D.O. % Sat.
Beaver Creek
Shell Creek
Flood Study
Flood Study
Date
and
Time
Width
(ft)
Avg.
Depth
(ft)
Flow
(cfs)
Total
Solids
(mg/L)
Solid
Discharge
(lbs/min)
Solid
Discharge
(tons/hr)
5/30/07 110 8.42 2243 9300 78145 2344
6/8/08 130 8.98 4328 8950 145138 4354
X cu ft 60 sec 28.32 L X mg 1 g 1 lb 1 ton 60 min
1 sec 1 min 1 cu ft 1 L 100 mg 453.6 g 2000 lb 1 hr
Website
• http://www.newman.esu8.org/
• Click “Activities”
• Click “Watershed Project”
• Click “Watershed Homepage”
• You can see our data and further
information concerning this project,
including pictures.
Thank You To:
• David Rus from USGS
• Lower Platte North Natural
Resource District
• PrairieLand RC&D
• Natural Resource Conservation
Service
• Nebraska Department of
Environmental Quality
• Shell Creek Watershed