Water Assessment Data Lab Assignment # 5

Land Use The first thing you notice when field sampling is the area around your site. What type of land use is going on around it? What condition is it in? Which stream do you think is going to be severely impacted and which will be non- impacted?

The Data Sheets Data courtesy of Watershed Assessment Associates

Physical Characteristics Width, Depth, Current- affect who lives there Substrate- particle size of the stream bottom Embeddedness- How deeply the rocks are pushed into the stream bed

Chemical Measurements Temp Conductance- Indicates salts and ions DO and %DO- pH Salinity

Biological Attributes Canopy Aquatic Vegetation Macroinvertebrates Faunal conditions Observations- What other things might you want to note from your sample site?

Invert counts This is what we are going to do for the final lab! Genera Richness- Why would this be important? EPT- Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (who are highly sensitive to pollution) EPT= {(E+P+T)/ Total bugs}*100%

{( )/100}*100%= 79%

SENSITIVE __B__ Caddisflies (except net spinners) __A__ Mayflies _____ Stoneflies _____ Water snipe flies __A__ Riffle beetles __A__ Water pennies _____ Gilled snails LESS SENSITIVE _____ Dobsonflies _____ Fishflies _____ Common net spinning Caddisflies _____ Crane flies _____ Damselflies _____ Dragonflies _____ Alderflies _____ Crayfish _____ Scuds _____ sowbugs _____ Clams _____ Mussels TOLERANT _____ Aquatic worms _____ Black flies __A__ Midge flies _____ Leeches _____ Lunged snails __4__ # of letters multiplied by 3 =__12___ ____ # of letters multiplied by 2 =_____ __1__ # of letters multiplied by 1 =__1___ Now add the three totals from each column for your stream’s index value. Total index value = ____13______ Water Quality Rating _____ Excellent ( > 22) _____ Good (17-22) __X___ Fair (11-16) _____ Poor ( < 11) Use letter codes (A = 1-9, B = 10-99,C = 100 or more) to record the numbers of organisms.

How's the water? Put it all together! Do you think this stream is Severely impacted, somewhat impacted or non- impacted? Now try it on your own with the next 2 and use the questions to walk you through the analysis.