M.T+Individual+Report

__Location__ The location of our work site is Mashamoquet Brook State Park 147 Wolf Den Drive, Pomfret Center, CT 06259. Near the Den are the Table Rock and Indian Chair natural stone formations. The Indian Chair is a wide seat-shaped ledge. In the section that is now the entrance to Mashamoquet Brook State Park, there once operated a cider mill, grist mill and wagon shop. The mill dam and pond went out during the flood of 1938. Now only the grist mill is still in existence. It is maintained as a museum by the Pomfret Historical Society. The mill is open on a regular basis and staffed by members of the Historical Society who provide interpretation for all interested visitors. Two camping areas are available. The Mashamoquet Brook Campground has 20 wooded sites. Wolf Den Campground offers 35 campsites. The campgrounds are open from mid-April through Columbus Day. There was no visible litter and the water odor smelled bad. There were trails and ponds also there were camp sites and a forest.

It was humid with a cloudy Overcast and the temp was 63 degrees F. The average temp. of the water was rite bout 16 degrees C. I was not there during the field trip so i did not have a role.

__Dissolved Oxygen__ With the test you have to use a sampling bottle, and collect water. And make sure that there are no air bubbles. You then add 8 drops of Manganous Sulfate Solution, and then 8 drops of Alkaline Potassium Iodide Azide Solution. Cap carefully, and mix. If it overflows it is okay. Wait til the precipitate settles below the shoulder of the bottle. The add 1g of Sulfamic Acid Powder using the 1g spoon. Cap and shake until powder and precipitate are dissolved.Dissolved oxygen enters the water in a couple ways. One way is through the process of photosynthesis in aquatic plant life. The other is through diffusion of oxygen in the air at the surface. Ideally a good level of dissolved oxygen is 7-11 mg/L. This level is good enough for most stream fish thrive. A level of 4-7 mg/L is good for most pond animals; 2-4 mg/L is good for few species of aquatic animals. Anything less than 2mg/L is not enough for most animals to survive. Mashmoquets water quality turned out to be very healthy. This was an overall positive test, because we took water samples of the water and the DO level came out to be a 9.2 and trout and salmon only need a 5 to live in.If the river at Mashmoquet was to be unhealthy than the river would be lower than 5, because the ecosystem for the river consists of trout pumpkin seeds and other small creatures.

__Water Hardness__ Hardness is a measure of the total concentration of calcium and magnesium ions, and, to a lesser extent, the salts of other minerals. Calcium and magnesium enter the. When we tested the water in mashamoquest we got a total hardness of 40, which is a soft result. Soft water can be detrimental to aquatic organisms, especially fish. Heavy metals like mercury and lead, as well as nonmetals like ammonia, are more toxic in soft waters than in hard waters. The water hardness level that we got in mashamoquest was a really unhealthy level for the fish. For a healthy level for fish would be the hard level witch is 121 to 180. Mashamoquet is not a healthy water based area because the water is soft which means there are alot of bacteria and unhealthy for the environmental animals that live there and plants.

__Alkalinity__ The alkalinity of water is a measure of its buffering capacity. The higher the value, the more acid can be neutralized.Decreasing alkalinity over a period of years can have serious effects on the stream ecosystem, as well as downstream lakes and ponds. Gradual lowering of the pH can result in the disappearance of some aquatic species and a decline in the condition and reproductive rate of fish.The alkalinity of fresh waters is typically between 20 and 200 mg/l .The levels found at Mashamoquet were border line for fresh water, meaning it is safe enough for aquatic animals.The Average results from our test in Mashamoquet was rite about 24 ppm.

__Nitrate__ For our Nitrate test, we took a sample of the water. It was held for 48 hours until our next class. We had to take 5ml of the sample of water and put it into three different tubes. We had distilled water that we put into the colorimeter and had to push the "30 second read" button and adjust the "Set Blank" button to 100%.For a healthy result in an unpolluted area, the levels are usually less than 1.0 mg/l. Acceptable concentrate in CT with a pH pf 7.0 and temp of 250C is 1.24 mg/l. For an unhealthy result would be exceeding more than 10 mg/l. If Elevated this is caused by human contamination from fertilizers and sewage. The high levels of nitrates causes growth to aquatic plants and can be harmful to small mammals.Our results for the Nitrate test was 0.40 ppm for the first try, 0.34 ppm for the second try, and 0.38 ppm for the last try.Mashamoquet, it is a little lower than it should be to be able to meet the standard of a healthy environment. The numbers for a healthy environment are usually less than 1.0 mg/l, which with our results for the Nitrate test works. It may be on the lower side for a healthy environment but at least it is in the range where it will not cause much harm.

__Ammonia__ Test results for ammonia are often expressed as ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), or "nitrogen that was in the form of ammonia." In unpolluted, well-oxygenated freshwaters NH3-N levels are usually less than 1.0 mg/l. In CT, the maximum acceptable concentration of NH3-N, assuming a pH of 7.0 and a temperature of 25C, is 1.24 mg/l. In especially sensitive areas, like salmon spawning grounds, the maximum limit is lower (0.86 mg/l).The ammonia test, like the ph test was done with an indicator. The darker the green, the more ammonia was present. 1mg/l = 1ppm.Our results for the Ammonia test was 0.25 ppm for each of our three tries. The test in Mashamoquet were a good level for the fish to live in and other pant life.

__Ph__ PH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration of water, which determines whether the water is acidic or "basic" (alkaline). It is measured using an electrical probe sensitive to hydrogen ion activity.The pH of most natural waters ranges from 6.5 to 8.5. Deviation from the neutral 7.0 is largely the result of the interaction between acids and bases. Industrial and community wastes,acid rain, bedrock type, and the biological processes of photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition all influence pH levels.Most aquatic species tolerate a limited pH range and most fish require a pH above 5.5 for growth and reproduction. If waters become too acidic, metals, such as aluminum and lead, 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. The results in Mashamoquet were about 6.6 and rite around 6.9 so that will be a good ph level in their water.

__Environmental Impact__ There are a bunch of bacteria a Mashamoquet park that can kill most of the animal life and plants in the lake.The Coliform bacteria that is present in the intestines of people and animals and, while not harmful itself, can signal the presence in the water of other more harmful bacteria found in the fecal matter.It’s mostly due to its location, it gets a lot of runoff during heavy rain events. The bacteria problem could be in the groundwater or in the above-ground runoff or more likely, some combination of the two.In a unnamed stream the results for bacteria were higher than any other location in Mashamoquet, they say it might be the cause of animal waste from farms or old septic tank systems.Also the massive rain fall is what makes that unnamed stream to flow into Mashamoquet.This can affect the aquatic life because of the bacteria that is coming from these sources.

__Conclusion/Summary__

I do believe that Mashamoquet is a healthy environment because of all the test that we have done almost all of them cam out to be nearly perfect except for the water hardness.The things that we can do to keep Mashamoquet clean is to make sure that the septic tank systems are up to date with their cleaning and to keep the waste of any farm animals out of the water.Mashamoquet is way cleaner than the pond outside of our school because it is cleaned most of the time.The pond outside of our school has no one at all to do cleaning or anything to maintain it clean.