Jenna Fairchild (UR) - Conserving a Special Florida Coral!

Holly Monroe(UR)- Saved Four Today

Update:
I do not have a graph just yet of my collected data. I will post a graph as soon as I collect the data and will explain each test individually in a short response paragraph. I will also include one scientific interpretation for the graph as a whole. I also had my original date for the BOD test wrong. The test will be ready for viewing tomorrow, so it will be included in tomorrows water quality update. I will also start a second BOD test tomorrow. However, for the graph mentioned previously, I will not be including BOD on it, nor any salinity. I am going to give them their own separate graphs. I also still need to get distilled water to preform the test (will have different testing dates).

Fourth day of water quality testing:
Time:

• Start Time: 2:20pm
• End Time: 3:00pm
• I preformed the tests inside again today due to the weather.
• All samples were collected at 2:20pm on 4-16-20.

Weather conditions:

• Air Temperature: 66 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Winds: NNE 15 
• Cloudy
• 20% chance of rain
• Was drizzling for about 5 minutes before I went out to test.
• 
  

  

  Cloudy Drizzle 4-16-20

  
  

  

  Rain Drainage 4-16-20

The road drainage can pose many pollution issues, which could have been what affected my results today. I know if I tested salinity today that would have also been off due to todays rain. I hope I am able to get the distilled water from the store soon to accurately test salinity so that a day like today does not pass me by again.
Results:

• Turbidity: 40JTU
• pH: Approximately 7.5
• Nitrate: Approximately 3ppm
• Phosphate: Approximately 0.5
• Dissolved Oxygen: 4ppm *I compared it to a BOD test by mistake, but it is the same color scale and does not effect the outcome.*
• 
  

  

  Actually Dissolved Oxygen Test 4ppm

  
  

  

  Nitrate Approximately 3ppm

  
  

  

  Phosphate Approximately 0.5

  
  

  

  pH Approximately 7.5

  
  

  

  Turbidity 40JTU

Correlation(s)/ Difference(s):

• Turbidity has been the same for the past few days.
• pH has a point 0.5 difference.
• Dissolved Oxygen has constantly gotten lower.
• Nitrate is the same as 4-15-20.
• Phosphate is the lowest it has been at 0.5.
• Still unsure how the levels are that low with so much plant and algae growth.
  
  

Jenna Fairchild (UR) - Coral on the Jetty? How Resilient!

Jenna Fairchild (UR) - Science in Quarantine

Even during COVID-19, there is science all around us providing experiment opportunities. Today, I took advantage of the rainy weather to do water quality experiments. 

Experiment location: My house in Port Orange, FL

Weather Conditions:

-Very cloudy

-Constant raining

-60% chance of rain at 1:00PM

Rainy cloudy quarantine day

Results:

Turbidity: 0 JTU

pH: 7

Dissolved Oxygen: 2 ppm
Nitrate: 3 ppm

Phosphate: 0.5

Turbidity

pH

Dissolved Oxygen

Nitrate

Phosphate

It is interesting to see how rain water, which completely surrounds us on rainy days, can have levels of poor quality without us noticing because we can't always see water quality with our naked eyes. Specifically, rain water is usually 5.6 on the pH scale, but I measured it to be 7, which is neutral. This is interesting because it means that todays rain is slightly more basic than its normal acidic level. This level of pH is comparable to drinking water! Once I have more collections of these measurements, I will be able to develop graphs comparing each water quality variable. I am very excited to compare water quality differences depending on the source of the water. Specifically, I am looking forward to sampling water from my favorite surf spot and learning what kind of conditions I've been swimming in. 

Jenna Fairchild

Lily Lehr (UR): Ph and Nitrate

pH Levels 

 On April 3rd, I went out to the creek that runs along the side and in my backyard. I tested the water for Nitrate and pH.

This water is part of a creek path that comes from Cracker Creek.

For pH it tested with the approximate level of 7. For nitrate the approximate level is 5ppm.

The weather conditions of today were:
High of 76, low of 52
Scattered clouds
Humidity 67%
Time: 5:45 - 6 pm

I previously cleaned the containers and filled them with creek water, so only creek substance would remain in the vials.

Nitrate properties of the water

Creek in side yard 

Holly Monroe (UR)- the Third Rainy Day

The third day of water quality testing:

Time:

• Start time:1:50pm
• End Time: 2:30pm
• Today I had started a few minutes earlier to collect the samples and preform the test inside due to rain.
• All samples were collected at 1:50pm and brought back inside for further testing.

Todays weather conditions:

• Temperature outside: 85 degrees Fahrenheit
• Winds: W7
• 0% chance of rain (at the time)
• 30% chance of rain and thunderstorms at 3pm
• Cloudy

Rain 4-15-20

Cloudy Weather 4-15-20

Results: 

• Turbidity: 40JTU
• pH: 8
• Dissolved Oxygen: Approximately 5ppm
• Nitrate: Approximately 1ppm
• Phosphate: 1ppm
• I still do not understand why the Nitrate and Phosphate levels are so low. There is a lot of plants and algae growing in the pond.
  
  

  

  Phosphate 1ppm at 1:50pm

  
  

  

  pH 8 at 1:

  
  

  

  Nitrate approximately 1ppm at 1:50pm
  

  

  Turbidity 40JTU at 1:50pm

  

  Dissolved Oxygen approximately 5ppm at 1:50pm

Correlation(s)/ Difference(s):

• Turbidity and pH were the same as the past two days.
• Dissolved Oxygen is 5ppm today (4-15-20) and 6ppm 4-14-20.
• Nitrate is approximately 1ppm today (4-15-20) and 4ppm 4-14-20.
• Phosphate is 1ppm today (4-15-20) and 2ppm 4-14-20.
• Both Nitrate and Phosphate have been difficult to read the results.

Holly Monroe (UR)- Day 2

Today is the second day of testing:
Time:

• Start Time: 2:41pm
• End Time: 3:00pm

Todays weather conditions:

• 80 degrees Fahrenheit
• North East (NE) 1 winds 
• Cloudy
• 0% chance of rain during the testing time
• 30% chance of rain at 3pm

  

  Cloudy Day 4-14-20

Results:

• Turbidity: 40JTU
• pH: 8
• Nitrate: Approximately 4ppm
• Phosphate: 2ppm
• Dissolved Oxygen: 6ppm

Dissolved Oxygen Approximately 6ppm at 2:51pm NE1

Phosphate 2ppm at 2:45pm NE1

Nitrate Approximately 4ppm at 2:41pm NE1

pH 8 at 2:34pm NE1

Turbidity 40JTU at 2:33pm NE1

Correlation(s)/ Difference(s):

• Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Phosphate, and Turbidity are all the same results as yesterdays (4-13-20) .
• Nitrate on 4-13-20 was approximately 5ppm and todays (4-14-20) was approximately 4ppm.
• Dissolved Oxygen on 4-13-20 was approximately 7ppm and on 4-14-20 it is approximately 6ppm.

Holly Monroe (UR)- New Plan

A couple of weeks ago in a blog post I had discussed needing a new plan when it came to testing samples because the wind had blown my testing kit away. In addition to having limited supplies I will now be preforming these experiments at the retention pond located in my apartment complex because of the Covid-19 virus. To begin with, here is a photo of the lake and the area where I am now testing:

Testing Location

Lake View

New Plan:

• I have already preformed 1 of each of the following tests on 4-13-20- meaning I will have a total of 6 recorded experiments for each of the following tests.
• The following plan is in addition to what I had done on 4-13-20. 
• Objective: Go out everyday starting 4-13-2020 to 4-18-20 and preform each of the following water quality tests 1 time. Then construct a column graph to compare the differences of the tests on each day;
• Temperature of the water: Preform 5 times.
• Temperature of the water 1km away: Preform 5 times.
• Turbidity: Preform 5 times.
• pH: Preform 5 times.
• Nitrate: Preform 5 times.
• Phosphorus: Preform 5 times.
• Dissolved Oxygen: Preform 5 times.
• Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD): Preform 2 more times (preform every five days because the sample needs five days in a dark room temperature room). 
• This test will be preformed differently and have a different graph most likely.
• I plan on testing BOD every 5 days.
• Because of it being on the course of 15 days I plan on using a line graph to graph any changes of that time. I may also include a bar graph to compare the 3 tests to each other.

Todays Testing Conditions:

• Time start: 2:57pm
• Time end: 4:45pm
• Air Temperature Start: 91 degrees Fahrenheit
• Air Temperature End: 93 degrees Fahrenheit
• Partly Cloudy
• 0% chance of rain
• Various Winds: West- Southwest (WSW) 18, West (W) 17, WSW 15

Todays Tests Results:

• Temperature of the water: 28 degrees Celsius 
• Temperature of the water 1km away: 32 degrees Celsius
• Turbidity: 40JTU
• pH: 8
• Nitrate: Approximately 3ppm
• Phosphorus: 2ppm
• Dissolved Oxygen: Approximately 7ppm
• Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD): Waiting on results.

Dissolved Oxygen Approximately 7ppm at 4:29pm WSW15

Nitrate Approximately 3ppm at 4:12pm W17

Phosphate 2ppm at 4:22pm W17

Turbidity of 40JTU at 2:57pm WSW18

pH of 8 at 4:10pm W17