Comparing Herbert Run & Patapsco Watershed

We have decided that our hypothesis is Herbert Run water samples will perform worse than Patapsco Valley State Park water samples when tested for a variety of water quality parameters.It is important to conduct this experiment because it helps us understand the effects of human activity on the environment, especially water quality. If it is found that one has significantly poorer quality than the other, then citizens can alert representatives and those who are in positions of power to address the problem. 

A lot of our information about these water bodies came from this article 

We noticed that both a stream that branched from Herbert Run within UMBC’s CERA and a water body from the Patapsco Valley State Park are regulated by the state. We observed that Herbert Run is nearby a lot of human activity due to it being in between neighborhoods and a college campus. Our observations made us very curious and lead us to our hypothesis.

November 8, 2013

Here are some nice table and graphs of our data.

There were no difference on Phosphate and Nitrate-Nitrogen between the two samples.

The pH only had a difference of 0.1.

The conductivity of Herbert Run was two times more than the Patapsco River.

The dissolved oxygen of Herbert Run was 2.1ppm lower than the Patapsco River.

The Avalon entrance road will be under construction due to water main work. The work will be starting before the end of September and will continue with good weather until December 31, 2013.

-http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/central/patapscoavalon.asp

Here is a picture of me doing the dissolved oxygen test for the Patapsco River sample!

I was adding Sodium Thiosulfate into the vial, mixing it and waiting for it to turn pale yellow.

Other than this, I've also done the pH, conductivity, and  the phosphate test.

Nov. 7, 2013 - 3:00pm

I collected the sample from the Patapsco State Park Orange Grove/Avalon Watershed!

I did some background researches on the stream in CERA.

The stream is a branch of the Herbert Run. However, the condition of the stream doesn't seem to be so good. I found a water quality report of it saying that they found excessive amount of heavy metal in Herbert Run water.

Link: http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Water/TMDL/ApprovedFinalTMDLs/Pages/Programs/WaterPrograms/TMDL/approvedfinaltmdl/wqa_final_lnbpatapsco_metals.aspx

I suppose that we wouldn't get a good result for our test later on.

The Research for the project begins!

I wonder if we'll find evidence that the Herbert Run watershed is under a lot more stress than the Patapsco one. It's tricky because Patapsco was in a really bad condition a few decades ago...

My group members are doing a lot of research to support our hypothesis and method, and I'll edit the proposal together.

November 8th, 2013