LG+Final+Summary

As a class we went to Mashamoquet Brook for the day and were assigned different tasks to perform. The water was located in the woods and appeared to be very dirty. Mashamoquet Brook is three individual parks joined together. Near the Den are the Table Rock and Indian Chair natural stone formations. The Indian Chair is a seat-shaped ledge. What now is the the entrance to Mashamoquet Brook State Park, there used to be an operating a cider mill, grist mill and wagon shop. During the flood of 1938 the mill, dam and pond went out. Now left is only the grist mill, and is maintained as a museum by the Pomfret Historical Society. There are two campground sites available to the public, Mashamoquet Brook offers twenty wooded sites, and Wolf Den has thirty-five camping sites available.

When we went to Mashamoquet the weather was rainy and cold. The temperature of the water was fifteen degrees celsius. On the field trip my task was to perform dissolved oxygen testing, My group and two other groups performed the same test so we could get accurate results and put our data together.

My group tested for dissolved oxygen in the water, we took a sample of water and made sure that there was no air in the bottle, and added 8 drops of starch indicator solution, the solution turned blue, and we added more drops of water until the color went back to clear. We did a titration reading. If the river at Mashmoquet wasn't healthy then the river would be lower than 5. It overall was a positive test. What were the actual results?

Another group had to test for water hardness. They had to find the water hardness levels in the water. They took three samples of water and tested them. Hardness is a measure of the total concentration of calcium and magnesium ions. Calcium and magnesium enter the water by the action of carbonic acid. As water and carbon dioxide react, carbonic acid is made and dissolves calcium and magnesium from carbonate rocks. A Positive water hardness test would be 121 to 180=hard. A unhealthy water hardness test would be soft 0 to 60. When they tested the water in the ride they got a hardness of 40. Soft water can be detrimental to aquatic organisms, especially fish. Heavy metals like mercury and lead, as well as nonmetals. The water hardness level wasn't healthy.

Alkalinity is a measure of how much acid (H+) is required to lower the pH to a specific level. The higher the alkalinity the more acid the water is able to absorb. One of the Alkalinity PH levels that were found when testing was 20.6mg/l and the other one was 40mg/l. The alkalinity of fresh waters is between 20 and 200 mg/l. A negative PH level would be either too low or too high. The levels at Mashamoquet were just passing for fresh water.

When ammonia is dissolved it reacts to form ammonium (NH4+) and hydroxide (OH-) ions. Ammonia is affected by different factors; pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration, salinity, carbon dioxide concentration, and previous acclimation to NH3, fluctuating or intermittent exposures, and other toxins. The ammonia test done with an indicator. When a lot of ammonia is there its a dark green.

A PH Scale ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral. A pH less than 7 is acidic, and a pH greater than 7 is basic. Each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value. The pH scale ranges from 1 to 14. The pH of water is important to aquatic life. If waters become too acidic, metals can be leached from the surrounding soil and bottom sediments, contaminating fish and other aquatic organisms. pH was tested by using an indicator that showed a yellow color if the water was acidic or a blue color if it was basic.

From the test results that the class took, everything at Mashamoquet seemed alright, if it wasn't aquatic plants and animals wouldn't survive. A healthy environment is clean and shows positive test results. In order for Mashamoquet to be clean the littering and pollution needs to end. The Killingly pond and Mashamoquet wasn’t very clean.