1 / 13

By Mary Carson, Valerie Du, and Abigail Jewell YWSI 2009

The Upper Hocking River Watershed. What is causing the Upper Hocking River watershed to be polluted?. By Mary Carson, Valerie Du, and Abigail Jewell YWSI 2009. The River’s Impairments . The Upper Hocking River suffers from: A low pH level Oils and grease within the water

nani
Download Presentation

By Mary Carson, Valerie Du, and Abigail Jewell YWSI 2009

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Upper Hocking River Watershed What is causing the Upper Hocking River watershed to be polluted? By Mary Carson, Valerie Du, and Abigail Jewell YWSI 2009

  2. The River’s Impairments • The Upper Hocking River suffers from: • A low pH level • Oils and grease within the water • Too many nutrients, especially phosphate and nitrogen • Siltation • Metals dissolved within the water • Many parts of the river are channelized

  3. County Information • Fairfield, Perry, and Hocking counties. • Forests and agricultural areas. • 1197 square miles • The Hocking River goes through 7 counties • Lancaster is the fastest growing region of our watershed

  4. Mary’s HypothesisAs the amount of Nitrogen increases, the diversity of the fish population decreases

  5. Impacts of Nitrogen On Fish On Humans • As the total nitrogen levels increased the fish population decreased. • Increased Nitrogen levels often cause disease in fish. • It also suppresses oxygen levels • When water high in Nitrogen is consumed, the Nitrogen takes the place of oxygen in the blood stream • High levels of Nitrogen in drinking water are especially harmful to newborn infants.

  6. Valerie’s Hypothesis When the measure of pH in the water becomes more acidic, the diversity of fish, also known as IBI, decreases.

  7. Analysis My hypothesis was well supported by the data.

  8. Abby’s Hypothesis: As Agriculture Development Increases, Phosphate Levels Also Increase.

  9. Analysis • Agricultural development increased, the phosphate levels rose. • Algae grows very quickly and dies after a short period. • Algae decomposes very slowly. • Decomposing algae requires a lot of oxygen. • High levels of nutrients such as phosphate indirectly hurt the fish population

  10. Conclusions • We conclude that high Nitrogen, Phosphate, and acidic pH levels are all causes of pollution in the Upper Hocking River. • Other causes of pollution that were less prominent : coal mining, siltation, grease, oil, and other habitat alterations.

  11. Improving Our Watershed • The Friends of the Hocking River and The Hocking River Commission are the two main organizations that preserve the environment around the Upper Hocking River. • The Hocking River Commission reduce runoff by adding more easements surrounding the river. • They are having informing public meetings

  12. Group Members: Abby, Mary, Valerie & Roberta Group 3

  13. Special Thanks to… Katie Hossler, Paula Williams, Steve Gordon, Shannon Schraegle, and Leslie Southern

More Related