Water Quality Testing

Determining transparency

The Wolves spent Wednesday afternoon back at Ralston Creek performing their first round of chemical and physical water quality assessments.  Timothy joined us for the day and helped students perform their tests.  The students began with physical assessments in which they measured the width of the stream, calculated stream velocity using a tennis ball, and determining water transparency.

Measuring stream width

Chemical assessments included using tests for nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, chloride, and pH levels.  Tests unfortunately showed that the creek had a pH level between 8 and 9 (be sure to ask a Wolf what that means)!  We'll continue to monitor the stream and see if this trend continues.

Collecting samples for chemical assessments