TJ+Individual+Summary+Report

Our test took place at Mashamoquet Brook. Located at 147 Wolf Den Drive, Pomfret Center, 06259. Some historical uses of Mashamoquet are the Table Rock and Indian Chair natural stone formations. Around 1938 there was a cider mill, grist mill and wagon shop at the entrance of the park. But it was washed away during the flood of 1938. There is very little of what remains. The grist mill still exist and was turn into a museum by the Pomfret Historical Society. The grist mill is open to the public. Some of the day uses that Mashamoquet has are there are two camping areas. With Mashamoquet and Wolf Den combined there are 55 campsites. For the Brook there wasn't any litter, but some people don't pick up after their pets so there was a lot of dog poop. The water didn't have an odor but you could see some foam collect around some of the rocks. There wasn't a whole lot but there was some. There is a pond that is used during the summer, but is currently emptied. A bridge was built within the last four years for people who enjoying walking.

On the day that we went to the park, it was semi cold. It was overcast and a chance of rain. Everything was wet from the rain the past couple of days. The average temperature of the water was about 16 degrees Celsius. Our Role during the field trip was to do the Nitrate test. We were not able to do the test in the field because it requires the colorimeter. So we collected a sample of water, and did the test during the next class period. Since we weren't able to do the test at the brook, we tested the Ammonia of the water. We did this test three times.

Our first test was the 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. Cape and shake until powder and precipitate are dissolved. Should be either yellow or golden color. The fill the titration tube to the 20 ml line. The the direct reading titrator with Sodium Thiosulfate solution so the tip of the plunger is to 0. Insert the Titrator into the cap and while gently swirling the tube, add one drop of the Sodium Thiosulfate and mix until the solution turns a very pale straw yellow. Remove titrator and cap. Then add 8 drops of Starch indicator solution. The solution should turn blue. Return the cap and titrator until the solution turns clear. Then read the titrator by where the plunger tip meets the scale. Record data. Our data from Mashamoquet were 9.2, 6.25, 9.8, 5.2, 9.4 ppm. The average of Dissolved oxygen was 7.97 ppm. 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. For the pond testing we did with our school pond it was 5.8mg/L. Which was also healthy for the animals. The levels in Mashamoquet were a good level, but with pond water it might be a little high.

Our next test was Water Hardness. We collected a water sample. You then fill the titration tube to the 12.9 with sample water. Add 5 drops of Hardness Reagent #5. Cap and Mix. Add one hardness reagent #6 tablet. Cap and shake until tablet dissolves. The solution will turn either red or purplish-red. Fill the direct reading titrator with Hardness reagent #7. Then adding one drop at a time and mixing until the solution changes from red to blue. The read the titrator. For safe levels of hardness, it needs to be between 25- 100 mg/l for safe levels. Hardness level would not be okay because it needs to be around 24 mg/l. Our data for Mashamoquet was when we tested the water in Mashamoquet we got a total hardness of 40, 16, and 30. The average was 28. 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 Mashamoquet was a really unhealthy level for the fish, for a healthy level for fish would be the hard level witch is 121 to 180. With our school pond water we got for Total Hardness: was a 100 parts per million. Calcium Hardness: 52 parts per million. And Magnesium hardness: 48 parts per million. The level for water hardness were unhealthy levels.

The next test was Alkalinity. For our procedure we had to fill a titration tube to the 5 ml line with sample water. You then add one Phenolphthalein Tablet, cap and shake. If you solution turned red you continued with the rest of "P" procedure. If not you then go to step T2. With the T2 you add one BCG-MR tablet shake until solution turns a green-blue. You then fill the titrator with Alkalinity Titration Reagent B. You then do the titration method. You want the solution to change from a green-blue to a pink. Be sure that a pink color holds for 1 minute before fades back to purple. For the rest of the "P" procedure you fill the titrator with the Alkalinity Titration Reagent B, you then do the titration method until the solution changes from red to colorless. Our data for Mashamoquet was 20.6, 20.6, 40, 20.6, and 20.6. The average was 24.48.The alkalinity of fresh waters is typically between 20 and 200 mg/l. In CT, alkalinity values are generally well below 100 mg/l. The pH of water does not decline steadily with acid contamination. Buffering minerals moderate the decline to around pH 6.4. Below pH 5.5 very little buffering materials remain and the pH declines rapidly upon addition of acid. At about pH 4.5, the buffering capacity of the water is lost. A negative PH level would be either too low or too high. With the school pond we got 108 mg/l. Our levels where good with the alkalinity.

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%. 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.

Ammonia was another test we did. 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. We did not test the school's pond water for Ammonia.

The pH was our last test. 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 to acidic.

The information from the environmental class was not given to us. But the issue that Mashamoquet is having now is the high bacteria levels that they have. It's from it's location and the runoffs when it rains heavily. Dwayne Gardener said “It’s a long-standing problem,” he said. “It’s mostly due to its location — it gets a lot of runoff during heavy rain events." Because of the high bacteria levels last summer they had to shut down the pond. The article from the Norwich Bulletin states "They don’t know where they’ll find it, but they know what they’re looking for: coliform bacteria." The bacteria spiked after a heavy rain storm. With the stream there were a few animals, and some people fish there. But with the pond there isn't an animals in it. But with how healthy the water it should be a good living area for the plants.  [|Hunt is on for shifty bacteria at Mashamoquet Brook State Park - Norwich, CT - The Bulletin] []  Is this a healthy environment? For the most part yes, but some of our test revealed that we had a high pH level. Also the Water Hardness test proved that our water was to soft for animals to live in. Also the only other thing that would affect the life their is the bacteria that they have been finding in the pond there. The ways that we keep Mashamoquet clean is by people cleaning up after themselves, and there are so park people that drive around to clean up the town. But people respect that others use the park, and they keep it clean. The information about how Mashamoquet compares to the School's pond water is in the different sections.