U High Creek Water Quality

In this experiment, the question being asked was: “What is the water quality of the U-High stream based on the water invertebrates found?” The purpose of this experiment was to determine the water quality of the U-High creek. The data was obtained by collecting soil, algae, and water from the U-High creek and identifying the number and types of invertebrates that were found from the samples. The prediction made was that the U-High creek’s water quality was poor based on the first observations of beer cans and other litter found near it, but the original hypothesis of the water quality being poor is rejected. There were three types of invertebrates found: pollution sensitive, pollution moderate tolerance, and pollution tolerance. Each of these groups resulted in having six different species found in the U-High creek. The pollution sensitive species included caddisflies, riffle beetles, stoneflies, mayflies, snipe larvae, and water penny larvae. The pollution moderate tolerance species included cranefly larvae, dragonfly
Runoff is a problem when farmers use too much nitrogen on their crops to help them grow and the excess nitrogen flows into creek and other bodies of water when it rains. This excess nitrogen causes more algae to grow in an algae bloom, which causes the bacteria that eats this algae to multiply as well and use up all the oxygen in the ecosystem. This leaves other organisms to die in the process called eutrophication. Another way that humans can affect a water ecosystem is by littering near or even far away from a body of water. Wind, runoff, and other conditions can carry the rubbish, such as plastic bags, bottles, and paper, into the creek which decomposes over time and leaves harmful chemicals and gases. These dangerous pollutants can decrease the water quality and cause organisms to die (Umgeni Water Amanzi). Overall, humans can impact water ecosystems in a lot of