Amanda Adams, UR, The results are in!

Hello fellow colleagues, as I mentioned I am Amanda in the IMES program here at Daytona State. I did a fun IRP this semester on nutrients in the Central Park waters near my home. My scientific question is: Out of Cu²⁺, TIN, and PO^3-₄ which has the highest concentration in the waters of Central Park near my house? Also, do these levels exceed what the EPA deems safe?

To answer this question I had to take a little journey through the waters of Central Park to find out. 

I set out in a kayak with my field book, 250 and 500 mL amber-colored Nalgene H₂O sample bottles, my phone for Lat/Long coordinates, and a cooler to keep my samples cold. After geotagging each sample site and obtaining my grab samples, I transported them to the lab where I tested all 5 samples for the above mentioned nutrients. I used the Hach DR/890 Colorimeter: method #8026 for Cu²⁺, method #10021 for TIN, and method #8048 for Orthophosphate. 

What the EPA deems as safe levels for the nutrients that I was testing are:

§  Cu²⁺     1.3 mg/L

§  TIN       0.52 mg/L

§  PO_3-4    0.01 mg/L

My levels compared to the EPA’s are as follows:

	Cu ²⁺	TIN	PO₄³ˉ
EPA	1.3	0.52	0.01
Central Park	0.0	0.1	0.02
site 2	0.0	0.1	0.02
site 3	0.0	0.0	0.0
site 4	0.0	0.3	0.0
site 5	0.0	0.0	0.0
*I couldn't get my graph to drop in here.

Answering my SQ: Out of Cu²⁺, TIN, and PO^3-₄, the only constituents that had high levels were TIN and PO^3-₄. PO^3-₄ was the only constituent that exceeded EPA standards at two of my sample sites; therefore it would seem that PO^3-₄ is the limiting nutrient in the lakes nearest my house.

If I had the opportunity to do it over again I absolutely would! The only modifications I would make would be:

§  Sample deeper than grab samples

§  Sample before/after rain to compare

§  Seasonal sampling (spring/summer/fall/winter) to see if lake turnover has an effect on nutrient concentration.

Thank you for following my research. This was enlightening and fun. I'm learning that science can be exciting and I can hardly wait to see what will unfold in the future.