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Tischer Creek: Washburn Edison Middle School

Tischer Creek: Washburn Edison Middle School. This slide show is adapted from slides used on 5/29/03 to introduce the website and discuss data collected by the 8 th grade science class at Washburn Edison Middle School.

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Tischer Creek: Washburn Edison Middle School

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  1. Tischer Creek: Washburn Edison Middle School • This slide show is adapted from slides used on 5/29/03 to introduce the website and discuss data collected by the 8th grade science class at Washburn Edison Middle School. • It is viewable on-line via either the Netscape or Internet Explorer browsers and may be saved as a Powerpoint (.ppt) file for instructional use by educators. • There are Notes attached to some of the slides that provide additional information. • This slideshow will be incorporated into the Water-on-the-Web Curriculum (www.waterontheweb.org)

  2. Tischer Creek: Washburn Edison Middle School National Water Quality Monitoring “Day,” Oct 2002, and then beyond…

  3. What’s the biggest, nastiest, costliest, most difficult to fix problem facing our streams ?

  4. It’s not litter… although trash and garbage add to the problem

  5. It’s not exoticspecies(but these are certainly a big problem)

  6. These days it’s usually not pipes from factories and sewage treatment plants dumping toxins, carcinogens, and….

  7. ….nutrients that cause algae blooms

  8. It’s not usually from disease-causing microorganisms (pathogens), although these can be a problem and are certainly linked to “it”

  9. It’s not floods… 1972 Brewery Cr @ 6th St and 6th Ave East although they are more likely to occur because of “this” problem

  10. Polluted Runoff(Nonpoint Source Pollution) The #1 water quality problem in the U.S.* Many of the pollutants described contribute to Nonpoint Source Pollution *USEPA

  11. The stuff that washes in is either… automated sensors hand-held EC25, T sensor $50 hand-held EC25 = electrical conductivity, a measure of the salt content of water Dissolved – • You usually can’t see it • You are measuring EC25 to estimate total dissolved substances • distilled water is ~ 0 uS/cm • Lake Superior is ~ 90 uS/cm • Tischer Creek has been ~ 150 to ~ 3000 uS/cm EC25 is a great indicator of road salt Road salt is a good indicator of how quickly pollutants can wash into streams

  12. ….or it’s Particulate – • Water gets cloudy (“turbid”) • You use a transparency tube to estimate turbidity • We use turbidity sensors • Turbidity increases due to • high water from rainstorms • snowmelt runoff

  13. Automated stream water quality and stage height (flow)

  14. Stream sensors

  15. High chloride can be toxic to fish…. But first you need to understand how chloride levels relate to electrical conductivity, the measurement that we collect on our streams Brook trout

  16. Estimating chloride from electrical conductivity (EC25) data

  17. The first snowstorm of the season as seen by DuluthStreams.org from October 21-22, 2002 Tischer Cr. Chester Cr. Kingsbury Cr. Higher chloride level = higher electrical conductivity (Look for darker blue to magenta)

  18. …and then the 2nd snow on November 13, 2002 Drivers bewareCold weather and a heavy dusting of snow Wednesday afternoon contributed to a rash of traffic accidents in and around the Twin Ports. Between 12:40 and 3 p.m., 65 accidents were reported in Duluth and 5 more in Superior, according to the Duluth and Superior police. ...The black ice conditions forced the temporary closure of several hilly roads in Duluth, including parts of Mesaba Avenue, until sand and salt trucks could ...Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN)

  19. Duluth, MN – 2nd Snow November 13, 2002 Road Salt

  20. Tischer Creek: Washburn Edison Middle School National Water Quality Monitoring “Day” Oct 2002 and beyond…

  21. Here’s your transparency tube data plotted against turbidity Tischer Cr. @ Washburn (Oct-Nov 02 & Apr-May 03) Remember - a high transparency tube reading means turbidity is low and the water is clear

  22. Here’s your transparency and turbidity data versus our automated sensors downstream 10cm 100cm MAY 19 – RAIN! The creek “came up” (stage height increased) The water “clouded up” (turbidity increased) Washburn transparency tube – only 10 cm! MAY 20 – NO RAIN The creek “came down” (stage height decreased) Water cleared (turbidity down) Washburn transparency tube – now 100 cm

  23. And what happened to the salinity of the creek? Not too much really • There was an initial drop in EC25 as the creek “came up” (stage height increased) Dilution by rainwater Runoff into the stream must have been lower in salts or it would have increased Salinity soon leveled out

  24. Invertebrate Stream Quality Indices Varying degrees of sensitivity to water quality Easy to collect and identify A key resource to be protected (fish food) Specific pollutants are expensive to measure Which ones are you going to measure? Chemical changes are “flashy” – you might miss the peak levels, but the bugs won’t

  25. Many types of Invertebrate Indices Washburn-Edison used a Stream Quality Assessment I (3 pts): Dobsonfly, Caddisfly, Stonefly, Mayfly … II (2 pts): Dragonfly, Damselfly, Crayfish, Scud, beetles, clams … III (1 pts): Blackfly larvae, Midge larvae, worms, leeches, snails

  26. Stream Quality Assessment Index Tally the number of major groups seen (such as Caddisflies or clams) Score by tolerance: I = Sensitive = 3 points II = Semi-sensitive = 2 points III = Tolerant = 1 point Sum the points to characterize water quality: > 23 Excellent 11-16 Fair 17-22 Good < 10 Poor

  27. Summary of Class Data – 7 groups Mean Score: 21 GOOD Range: 13-25 Median: 23 Mode: 23

  28. Other DuluthStreams Data - Check out the GIS Utility Tischer Cr Map–based data: from a Geographic Information (GIS) System Washburn Edison You can zoom in and overlay streams, roads, land uses, etc.

  29. The rest of these slides may be useful to teachers for introducing the website

  30. DuluthStreams “Rationale” Duluth has 42 named streams High density for size of urban area

  31. 12 are designated trout streams

  32. Stormwater issues Like many urban streams across the country, Duluth streams face a number of environmental threats related to stormwater runoff

  33. Goal of DuluthStreams Enhance public understanding of aquatic ecosystems and their connections to watershed land use to provide both economic and environmental sustainability But with a focus on collecting and presenting real-time data www.duluthstreams.org

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