1. Water Quality In Lake St. Clair Grosse Pointe North High School Brian H., Mark B., Brandon D., Michael M., Will C., and Ryan M.

2. Wayne County RESA for hosting this symposium Wayne State University Monroe Public Schools The partners who helped us research Wayne State University—ANOVA and t tests Dr. Osman Kaya Macomb County Health Department: Environmental Health Services Division Dr. Jim Buzonik Dr. Steven Schmidt

3. Water is the common connection in all three of the Grosse Pointe Research Projects! Water is a simple molecule: 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen However, when studying the quality of a body of water many factors and several indicators must be considered. To look at only one variable at a time limits the scope of thinking needed to explain changes in water quality over the last several years. Our explanation is a synergistic one—looking at multiple indicators and the synergistic effects and affects of these indicators. H2OH2O

4. Abstract Our objective is to –Compare the water of Lake St. Clair at specific sites, on a specific day, at a specific time with data collected by Macomb County Health Department –Compare our findings with standards set by scientific organizations for water quality –Explain the impact of our findings on the overall water quality at two sites, near shore, in lake St. Clair

5. We went out on a 19 foot boat on May 5 th 2007 and collected data from the Milk River on shore, n1 and the coast guard station, n4. We tested for pH, turbidity,dissolved oxygen, temperature, and conductivity.

6. Experiment Location This is a Google Earth picture that features the locations of our test sites. n4 n1 North 42 degrees 27.618 West 82 degrees 52.503 Depth: 4 feet North 42 degrees 28.189 West 82 degrees 52.445 Depth: 10 feet

7. pH = a measure of the acid base of the water in which most aquatic organisms have a limited range for survival. A pH of 7 is neutral and most aquatic surface water has a range pH 6 to pH 8. Both fluctuations in pH and pH above 8 are harmful to most aquatic life, especially during development of eggs and larvae. Changes in the pH may elevate the concentrations of other elements to higher toxicity and amplify their effects. It is known that photosynthesis (aquatic plants) consumes carbon dioxide which results in a rise in pH. Cellular respiration (aquatic plants and animals) releases carbon dioxide and lowers the pH. Our study looked at the following indicators of Water Quality

8. Temperature Probe

9. Turbidity = measures the water’s lack of clarity for recreational purposes lakes should have a turbidity of 5 NTU Highly turbid waters clog the gills of fish and after the sediment settles out of the water column the particles may smother the fish eggs. Temperature = a physical characteristic that can determine the rate of biochemical reactions in the aquatic environment Conductivity = the measure of water’s ability to conduct an electrical current through dissolved ions. These ions include sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, chloride, sulfate, carbonate, and bicarbonate.

10. pH Calibration to known pH pH 4 pH 7 pH 10

11. Dissolved oxygen = measures oxygen gas dissolved in water which is vital to aquatic life Dissolved Oxygen is a necessary component of cellular respiration and without oxygen the mitochondria do not produce ATP energy. Aquatic organisms have an optimal range of dissolved oxygen. Oxygen demanding materials and plant nutrients are common substances discharged to the environment by man's activities, through wastewater facilities and by agricultural, residential, and storm water runoff. Our study looked at the following indicators of Water Quality

12. Statement Of Problem Lake St. Clair is notorious for having POOR WATER QUALITY. There are recorded unsafe, levels of E. coli bacteria, untreated sewage overflow after heavy rains, and beach closings. Our research includes testing the water of the lake for pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen levels, temperature in order to quantify the water quality. We will then analyze our data and compare our means with the means from previous, similar studies done through the Macomb County Health Department. Our questions included, but are not limited to: How do the means or our research compare in a longitudinal analysis to Macomb County’s means; and what conclusions can we draw? How do the water quality indicators we tested indicate a point source of pollution from drain pipes, street run off, and sewer overflow? How are humans affecting the water quality aspects in Lake St. Clair and how will humans be affected by the water quality in Lake St. Clair? What can be done to clean up the pollutants and water quality in Lake St. Clair?

13. Our study is significant because we are testing from sites that serve as a control for our results. Many people get their drinking water from Lake St. Clair, fish from Lake St. Clair to eat, and spend time playing on the lake. A scientific look at the indicators of water quality together with our logical connection to the sewer run-off being pumped into the lake is important for our society to consider. Freshwater is less than 1% of the water on this earth and all living things depend on it. We believe that water is even more essential to our existence than oil. The quality of that water determines our future on this planet. Significance of Study

14. Ti 84 silver edition graphing calculators and Logger Pro

15. –data was saved to the ti-84 graphing calculator –we interfaced the ti-84 graphing calculators with the computer and downloaded the data into Microsoft excel –We calculated the means and standard deviations for all of our tests at each site to ensure that our data was ‘good’ data. –We took a minimum of 34 samples and a maximum of 154 samples for each test run. Tests were repeated to ensure accuracy. Data Analysis

16. Results/Discussion After the data analysis of ANOVA and t tests, we found that there were many statistically significant findings within our data; and when our data was compared to that of Macomb County.

17. t-test results for On-Shore, n1 Variables The current study Macomb County tdf pHM=8.38 SD=0.03 N=61 M=7.83 SD=0.58 N=17 7.49*76 TemperatureM=15.50 SD=0.03 N=109 M=22.62 SD=5.07 N=18 14.97*125 DOM=9.05 SD=0.31 N=34 M=10.65 SD=2.88 N=14 3.29**46 TurbidityM=105.58 SD=6.80 N=80 M=33.31 SD=21.25 N=16 25.06*94 ConductivityM=0.38 SD=0.001 N=154 M=0.17 SD=0.05 N=18 53.22*170 *p < 0.0001; **p < 0.01

18. Temperature is statistically significant. Water temperature near shore has increased compared to Macomb’s data Climate Change?

19. Highly turbid waters clog the gills of fish and after the sediment settles out of the water column the particles may smother the fish eggs. For recreational purposes lakes should have a turbidity of 5 NTU or less. Run off ? Sewer ? Human ?

21. It is known that photosynthesis (aquatic plants) consumes carbon dioxide which results in a rise in pH. Is the rise in pH due to photosynthesis a natural process? If so, then there should be a rise in Dissolved Oxygen which is given off by the process of photosynthesis. Let’s look at Dissolved Oxygen Data!

22. Dissolved oxygen is decreasing Which rules out the pH rise due to photosynthesis. Dissolved oxygen is lower in water filled with sediment, E.Coli, etc (turbidity) and solutes (conductivity). The water tested in Lake St. Clair shows Lowering do data, Increasing temps, increasing Turbidity, increasing Conductivity, and Increasing pH. We conclude…

24. Conclusions We did not measure pollution or E. Coli levels directly and we know that the sewage is being pumped into the lake especially after rain storms. We did measure indicators that allow us to, by proxy reasoning, determine that sewer run-off should reasonably be considered the point source of the problem. Home