Water Quality In Lake St. Clair

Grosse Pointe North High SchoolBrian H., Mark B., Brandon D., Michael M., Will C., and Ryan M.

Wayne County RESA for hosting this symposiumWayne State UniversityMonroe Public Schools

The partners who helped us research

Wayne State University—ANOVA and t testsDr. Osman Kaya

Macomb County Health Department: Environmental Health Services Division

Dr. Jim BuzonikDr. Steven Schmidt

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 watermany factors and several indicators must be considered.

To look at only one variable at a time limits the scopeof thinking needed to explain changes in water quality

over the last several years. Our explanation is a synergistic one—looking at multiple indicators and the

synergistic effects and affects of these indicators.

H2O

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

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.

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

n4

n1North 42 degrees 27.618West 82 degrees 52.503Depth: 4 feet

North 42 degrees 28.189West 82 degrees 52.445Depth: 10 feet

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.

Our study looked at the following indicators of Water Quality

Temperature Probe

Turbidity = measures the water’s 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 ofbiochemical reactions in the aquatic environment

Conductivity = the measure of water’s ability to conduct an electrical current through dissolved ions.

These ions include sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, chloride, sulfate, carbonate, and bicarbonate.

pH Calibration to known pH

pH 4pH 7

pH 10

Dissolved oxygen = measures oxygen gas dissolved in water which isvital 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.

Our study looked at the following indicators of Water Quality

Statement Of Problem• Lake St. Clair is notorious for having POOR WATER QUALITY.

There are recorded unsafe, levels of E. coli bacteria, untreatedsewage 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 waterquality. We will then analyze our data and compare our means with the means from previous, similar studies done through the MacombCounty Health Department.

• Our questions included, but are not limited to: How do the means or our research compare in a longitudinal analysis toMacomb County’s means; and what conclusions can we draw?

How do the water quality indicators we tested indicate a point source ofpollution from drain pipes, street run off, and sewer overflow?

How are humans affecting the water quality aspects in Lake St. Clair and howwill humans be affected by the water quality in Lake St. Clair?

What can be done to clean up the pollutants and water quality in Lake St. Clair?

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.

Significance of Study

Ti 84 silver edition graphing calculatorsand Logger Pro

– 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.

Data Analysis

Results/Discussion

After the data analysis of ANOVA and ttests, we found that there were many

statistically significant findings within ourdata; and when our data was compared to

that of Macomb County.

t-test results for On-Shore, n1

Variables The current

studyMacomb County

t df

pH M=8.38 SD=0.03

N=61

M=7.83SD=0.58

N=17

7.49* 76

Temperature M=15.50SD=0.03N=109

M=22.62SD=5.07

N=18

14.97* 125

DO M=9.05SD=0.31N=34

M=10.65SD=2.88N=14

3.29** 46

Turbidity M=105.58SD=6.80

N=80

M=33.31SD=21.25

N=16

25.06* 94

Conductivity M=0.38SD=0.001

N=154

M=0.17SD=0.05

N=18

53.22* 170

*p < 0.0001; **p < 0.01

11.62

15.5

0

5

10

15

20

Temperature- Degrees Celcius

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

Temperature- site n1

Series1

10.69

16.35

0

5

10

15

20

Temperature- Degrees Celcius

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

Temperature- site n4

Series1

Temperatureis statistically

significant.

Water temperaturenear shore

has increased compared to

Macomb’s data

Climate Change?

79

105.58

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Turbidity-NTU

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

Turbidity- site n1

Series1

14

35.85

0

10

20

30

40

Turbidity- NTU

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

Turbidity- site n4

Series1

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 ?

8.23

8.38

8.15

8.2

8.25

8.3

8.35

8.4

ph Levels

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

pH Levels- site n1

Series1

7.87

8.66

7.47.67.8

88.28.48.68.8

pH Levels

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

pH Levels- site n4

Series1

It is known that photosynthesis (aquatic plants)

consumes carbon dioxide which results in a rise in pH.

Is the rise in pHdue to photosynthesis

a natural process?

If so, then there should bea rise in Dissolved Oxygen

which is given off bythe process of

photosynthesis.

Let’s look at Dissolved Oxygen

Data!

12.55

9.04

02468

101214

Dissolved Oxygen- mg/L

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

Dissolved Oxygen- site n1

Series1

12.53

8.923

02468

101214

Dissolved Oxygen- mg/L

Spring 2005-Macomb

Spring 2007- GP

Sample Data

Dissolved Oxygen- site n4

Series1

Dissolved oxygenis 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 testedin Lake St. Clair shows

Lowering do data,Increasing temps,

increasingTurbidity, increasing

Conductivity, andIncreasing pH.

We conclude…

E. Coli readings- n1- Macomb County (CFU/100mL)

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4

E. Coli readings- MacombCounty (CFU/100mL)

E. Coli readings-n4- Macomb County (CFU/100mL)

05

101520

2530354045

1 2 3 4

E. Coli readings-Macomb County(CFU/100mL)

Conclusions

We did not measure pollution orE. Coli levels directly and we know that the

sewage is being pumped into the lakeespecially 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.

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