Intro: A watershed is an area in which water flows, usually including a point of origin and an outlet. Watersheds are important because they distribute nutrients, sediments, and water that are necessary for life. On the Northside, we're in the Guadalupe watershed.

People are the biggest threat to our watersheds, we are gross polluters and even when there are plans in place that are meant to dissuade us from dumping in our waterways, we are often ignorant of them - as we saw in class when a surprising number of students didn't know that we have to recycle oil, not throw it away or dump it into our sewers! Humans also pollute out waterways indirectly, aka non-point source pollution, via agriculture, pharmaceuticals, transportation, and pretty much everything else we do. In class, Prof. Schultz gave an example of the metal on our brake pads that gradually wears away as we use them. These tiny particles fly off, land in the road, then get washed into our waterways by the rain. It's important to look at water quality because pollution can lead to all sort of problems in our environment and in our lives. Water is life, if we don't protect it, we can't survive. Testing the water quality of this creek can indicate the health of the entire watershed.

This analysis was done in the Redwood Creek watershed. We're examining the macroinvertebrates that live in the Arroyo Ojo de Agua at Stulsaft Park and checking the temperature, oxygen, salinity, and turbidity of the waterway. I think the creek will be polluted; just knowing how terrible humans are, I expect to find pollution everywhere.

Methods: This lab activity took place at the Arroyo Ojo de Agua at Stulsaft Park on March 29, 2018. Samples were taken to measure temperature, pH, oxygen, conductivity, and turbidity. They were also studied to see what types of macroinvertebrates were in the waterway. I used the assigned data sheets to take and evaluate the measurements. From that information I was able to deduce the pollution level in the creek.

Results:

Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4

Discussion: In figure 1 we can see the results of the water quality tests, this creek is at the edge of a healthy pH and the conductivity is out of the healthy range. I would look at more tests for specific elements to see what exactly is throwing this creek out of balance.

Looking at figures 2 and 3, this is the tally I took of the macroinvertebrates on the slides. I know my count is not quite right because this part of the activity was a struggle for me, but I do think I am close enough to provide an accurate analysis. Most of the critters I could identify were midges, with a small showing of most caddisflies, small minnow mayflies, segmented worms, damselflies, and snails. Fig 2 shows that the caddisflies were the only pollution-sensitives I could see, everyone else is pollution tolerant. In figure 4, we can see clearly that the ratio of pollution-tolerant macroinvertebrates to pollution-sensitive is out of balance, telling us that the us that the creek is polluted.

Conclusion: These kinds of tests are important to monitor the health of our waterways, because if our water is unhealthy, our environment and our bodies will suffer. Polluted water will lead to collapse of our marine ecosystems, destruction of crops, and widespread disease.

Personal conclusion: I love this class but sometimes it makes me want to drink.

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