1. WATER QUALITY TESTING

2. DISSOLVED OXYGEN

3. DISSOLVED OXYGEN Amount of oxygen dissolved in water
All aquatic animals need DO to survive
Cold water holds more DO than warm water
Moving water holds more DO than still water

4. NITRATES Needed by animals/plants to build protein
Animal waste products and dead/decaying material naturally adds nitrates to the water
Too much nitrate causes excess plant growth, decay which causes DO to go down
Sewage & Fertilizers are a main cause of excess nitrates

5. PHOSPHATES Nutrient needed for plant/animal growth
Excess causes plant overgrowth, more bacteria, DO levels to drop
Comes from human/animal waste, industrial pollution, ag. runoff

6. PH pH of natural water is between 6.5-8.2
Affected by pollution, mining, ag. Runoff, industrial waste

8. WATER SPEED Speed = distance/time
Measure out a distance (example 10 m)
Throw a stick upstream from the 0m mark
Start your stopwatch when it crosses 0m and stop your stopwatch when it crosses 10m
Speed = 10m/____seconds

9. TURBIDITY
Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness of water caused by suspended materials
Plankton, sewage, silt, clay
High turbidity can indicate erosion problems
Rainfall and runoff can increase the amount of suspended load….this makes the water look cloudy or muddy.
High turbidity can increase water temperature, decrease the rate of photosynthesis and decrease the dissolved oxygen in the water

10. HOW TO MEASURE TURBIDITY
Turbidity tube for shallow water (rivers)
Secchi disk for deep water (lakes)
Record turbidity in cm as soon as the black and white disk is visible.