Whitefish River and Riverside Pond Water Quality Monitoring and Management Barrett Gray Mr. Spangler Whitefish High School Advanced Chemistry

●What is the overall water quality of the Whitefish River? ●Monitoring and improvement of Whitefish Riverside Pond Introduction

●Previous sampling has been done by the Whitefish Lake Institute at the same locations ●Most of the previous sampling had been done at the outfall (near city beach) ●Water quality can affect algae growth, bacterial growth, and fish populations in addition to many other things Whitefish River Background

●Pond is the location of storm water outflow ●Large amount of muck is going to need to be removed from the bottom o One ft deep in some places ●Pond is eutrophic (over productive) o Floating islands with recycled plastic on bottom will be placed in the pond o Biofilm collects in the spaces between the plastic and will absorb excess nutrients ●Testing using a hydrolab will be done once a month throughout the summer ●Invasive yellow-flag iris will need to be removed Riverside Pond Background

●Four locations - City Beach overflow parking lot, Columbia Avenue bridge, JP road bridge, and HWY 40 bridge ●Used hydrolab o temperature, pH, conductivity, oxidation reduction potential, chlorophyll a, salinity, total dissolved solids (TDS), depth, resistivity, ammonium, nitrate and nitrite, total soluble solids ●Sent water samples to lab o total phosphorus, total nitrogen, soluble reactive phosphorus, and total organic carbon Procedure for Whitefish River

●Test pond water using hydrolab once a month ●Measure muck layer using a grid method ●Create a GIS map showing the water inlet, water outlet, invasive yellow-flag iris, and locations for muck measurements ●Place floating islands in pond ●Remove yellow-flag iris and place barrier mat to prevent it from growing back ●Drain pond and excavate excess muck from the bottom ●Possibly put in an aeration system Procedure Plan for Riverside Pond

●Map shows Total Nitrogen values in river ●Higher than recommended ●Levels rise after passing waste water treatment plant Data from River

●Map shows Total phosphorous values in river ●Lower than recommended ●Levels again rise after passing wastewater treatment plant Data from River

●High nitrogen values are a larger problem than low phosphorous values ●High amounts of nitrogen can cause overstimulation of growth of aquatic plants and algae o Can clog water tanks, block light, kill fish, and deprive the water body of oxygen ●Phosphorous is needed for plant growth o Low values would result in a slight decrease in the amount of plant growth (not as large of a problem as excess plant growth) Data Analysis (River)

●Focused on Phosphorous and Nitrogen ●Other nutrient and parameters that were measured were fairly close to the reference values that they should be at ●River is in relatively good health ●Waste water treatment plant between the second and third sampling locations is most likely causing an increase in nitrogen and phosphorus values o Could mean leakage or improper treatment o Should be addressed Conclusion (River)

●Additional sampling on the Whitefish River ●Additional GIS maps for other nutrients and parameters ●More precise reference values for nutrients and analytes in river Improvements

●Mike Koopal and the Whitefish Lake Institute ●Karin Hilding ●Scott and Carrie Elden Acknowledgments

"Dissolved Oxygen." WATERSHEDSS. NC State University, Web. 9 Oct Perlman, Howard. “Water Properties: Temperature.” USGS. USGS, 17 March Web. 10 Feb Wilde, F. D. "6.0 Guidelines for Field-Measured Water-Quality Properties." USGS Water-Quality Information: 6.0 General Information and Guidelines. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar References