1. Water Quality Natural & Controlled Environments

2. Monitoring natural environments Photo courtesy of Melissa Gutierrez

3. So who monitors our natural waters? Environmental Protection Agency- –Mission- protect human health, safeguard environment Clean Water Act (1972)- law regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters

4. Nitrates (NO 3 ) & phosphates (PO 4 ) Run-off from commercial fertilizers and animal waste to near-by storm drains and creeks Scale from 0 – 1 ppm Can increase algal blooms and aquatic plants  hypoxia (low oxygen)

6. Dissolved oxygen necessary for most life hypoxia lowers tolerance to stressors (pathogens, pollution, etc.)  death enters water as a product of photosynthetic organisms & by water/air interactions Aquarium O 2 = 7-9

7. Air temperature Varies Affects water temperature Which water would you rather jump in to?

8. Water temperature Varies Changes less rapidly than air temperature Cold water holds more DO

9. pH Range from 0-14 measuring acidity ( 7) of substance pH of Water = 7.0

10. Turbidity Secchi disk- Measures transparency of fresh or saltwater

11. Fecal coliform bacteria Coliform bacteria (E. coli) found in feces & intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals Its presence may indicate presence of other harmful pathogens Animal waste washes into bodies of water after heavy rains

12. The Dead Zone

13. Hypoxia and anthropogenically increased nitrogen and phosphorus input

14. World Wide Effects of Eutrophication

15. Monitoring controlled environments