BMFinalSummary

-Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret is rich with history and offers hiking, camping, fishing, picnicking, stream fishing, and #|swimming. Near the Den are the Table Rock and Indian Chair, and natural rock formations. The Indian Chair is a wide seat-shaped ledge. Near the section that is now the entrance to Mashamoquet, there once operated a cider mill, grist mill and wagon shop. The mill dam and pond went out during the flood of 1938. 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. The park had #|trash cans almost everywhere, so there was no litter anywhere. The water did not have an odor, but there was foam and the water was very cold. The weather was not sunny, it was cold, cloudy, and drizzled a little. We did not check the temperature of the water, but it was estimated to probably be 20 #|degrees Fahrenheit. Water temp was included in our class data. It was about 16 degrees Celcius. My role during the trip was to assist in the data collection and the nitrate test. -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 to thrive. A level of 4-7 mg/L is good for most pond animals; 2 -4mg/L is good for few species of aquatic animals. Anything less than 2mg/L is not enough for most animals to survive. The level of dissolved oxygen, when we tested, was 5.8 and it is safe and #|healthy at that level for fish and other aquatic organisms. The test results for the dissolved oxygen on the trip were, for the replicate 1 (ppm) was 9.2, for the replicate 2 (ppm) was 6.25, for the replicate 3 (ppm) was 9.8, for the replicate 4 (ppm) was 5.2, and for the replicate 5 (ppm) was 9.4. The dissolved oxygen in the water was #|healthy enough for the organisms. -Water hardness is an important biochemical aspect in the ecosystem. Calcium is one of the minerals that we measure when we detect water hardness. Fish and other species need this important mineral in their daily lives. Some of the reasons they need it is for proper bone formation. This is why it is important that safe levels of these mineral ions are present in the water. A Positive water hardness test would be 121 to 180 and an unhealthy water hardness test would be soft witch is 0 to 60. The test results for the total hardness for the replicate 1 (ppm) was 40, for replicate 2 (ppm) was 16, and for the replicate 3 (ppm) was 30. The water hardness in the water at Mashamoquet was good enough for the organisms that live there. -The alkalinity of water is a measure of its buffering capacity. The higher the value, the more acid can be neutralized, the more the water can resist a change in pH. Alkalinity of natural waters is primarily the result of bicarbonates but is expressed in terms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Carbonates (CO32-) and bicarbonates are common to most waters since they are abundant in nature. However, if the bedrock of watersheds is lacking in carbonates and other buffering minerals, as in granite bedrock, alkalinity values will be low. The alkalinity of fresh waters is typically between 20 and 200 mg/l. In CT, where bedrock geology is largely granite schist and gneiss, alkalinity values are generally well below 100 mg/l. The test results for the Alkalinity for the replicate 1 (ppm), the replicate 2 (ppm), replicate 4 (ppm) and replicate 5 (ppm) was 20.6, for the replicate 3 (ppm) was 40. The Alkalinity in the water was healthy enough for the organisms to live. -For the nitrate test, we got water from the river. 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%. Pour 5Ml of water into a graduated Cylinder. Return it to the reading tube. Measure 5ml of Mixed Acid Reagent to the tube, mix and wait. Add .2g of Nitrate reducing reagent by filing the .1g spoon twice. Mix within a four period minute. Wait ten minutes. Insert the reading tube into the chamber and press the 30 second read button. Then read the percentage and change it to ppm with the chart given. Clean up materials. Our data for Mashamoquet was .40, .34, and. 38. The average was .37ppm. 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. With the schools pond water we got .70 ppm. The levels for Mashamoquet was acceptable. -The Ammonia test was done with an indicator. In CT, the maximum acceptable concentration of NH3-N, assuming a pH of 7.0 and a temperature of 250C, is 1.24 mg/l. In especially sensitive areas, like salmon spawning grounds, the maximum limit is lower (0.86 mg/l). The darker the green, the more ammonia was present. 1mg/l = 1ppm. Our levels at Mashamoquet were safe. -The pH was tested by using an indicator that showed a yellow color which is acidic. A blue color if it was basic. A healthy environment would be 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. The pH for Mashamoquet was way to acidic. The biological factors that might influence the water quality are that the coliform bacteria that is present in the intestines of people and animals and can signal the presence in the water of other more harmful bacteria found in the fecal matter. - How this might impact aquatic life at Mashamoquet is that 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 an unnamed stream that flows into Mashamoquet Brook near the main entrance to the park, bacteria levels spiked right after rainstorms, leading people to blame runoff, likely from a farm or from the owner of a large animal who didn’t cover its waste. The likely source of high bacteria levels in the brook is faulty septic systems leaking into the groundwater. This can affect the aquatic life because of the bacteria that is coming from these sources which can cause an even bigger problem when it comes in to contact with the water and the fish. -Overall it is a fairly healthy environment. The dissolved oxygen test came out to be very healthy, the alkalinity test came out to be safe enough for the aquatic animals, the nitrate test came out to be on the lower side of a healthy environment but would not cause much harm in the future, the ammonia test came out to be closer to the zero mark because all three tests were 0.25 ppm, which is low but healthy, and the pH test was also very healthy because all four results came out to the 6.0 pH range and the healthy pH number is 7.0. The only test that came out to be unhealthy for aquatic life was the water hardness since the result came out to 40 which means that the water is soft. -How we can keep Mashamoquet clean is we can make sure that our septic systems are not faulty. After testing Mashamoquet's water with 6 different tests I would say that Mashamoquet is healthier than the pond at Killingly High School. Whenever we would go to the pond outside of the school it did not look very, with lots of leaves and things on top of the water. At Mashamoquet the water had nothing on top of it and it looked like it was a healthy flowing river, except for the foam.