TEC Conducts Water Quality Training with Vanderbilt students on Mill Creek

By Michael Cain

    On  Saturday February 3^rd 2007, 9 Vanderbilt University students came to the Mill Creek Greenway off Harding Place to learn about water quality monitoring. It was a very cold windy day with snow on the ground, but everyone showed a willingness to get right in and get it done. 

    With the help of TSRA’s Daniel Boone, a good location with sufficient riffles was located, and we were able to safely access the creek with out difficulty.

     We started by dividing into three groups, one of which began collecting bugs with a kick net in the riffles and a dip net along the banks. The second group started evaluating the habitat and land use characteristics

Students begin collection of macroinvertibrates

for this site using the Stream Habitat Assessment from the TVA Volunteer Stream Monitoring Methods Manual. A third team began collecting water samples for testing, and a separate sample was collected to determine dissolved oxygen at the site.

     After about 30 minutes, the assessments were complete, water samples were collected, the dissolved oxygen titration was accomplished, and a good effort to collect benthic macroinvertibrates was completed. At this point everyone took a trash bag and began to collect trash.

Students pick up trash. These students were die hard (notice the snow).

It is unfortunate that we did not have to look far to gather several full trash bags. With this, we walked back up to the vehicles to test the water samples for nitrates, phosphates, pH and turbidity and to look for and sort the ‘bugs’.

     The results were not what might be termed good. While the turbidity was low (between 0 and 20 TU), phosphate was about 0.1 mg/L and the nitrate level was 0.0 mg/L. This suggests that the algae (which were very abundant) had probably consumed most of the nutrients in the water.  This over abundance of algae presents a water quality issue that is possibly connected to an increase in phosphates somewhere up stream. The dissolved oxygen level was low relative to its capacity at 6.4 ppm (or mg/L) at 5 degrees centigrade. At this temperature, the water could contain greater than 14 mg/L at saturation. The pH tested at

Triumphant!!!  But cold.

between 7 and 8, which was within the normal range. The test tab method used was compared to results from a hand held colorimeter, and proved to be right on (colorimeter results: TU = 4, phosphate = 1.1 and nitrate = 0).

     Unfortunately, the bugs where not abundant (one indication of poor water quality) and those we did find tended toward the pollution tolerant category. The sample we were able to get was to small to consider as a representative sample, but the students were able to identify six different types of macroinvertibrates.

     The students: MaryAnn , Dan Wallace, Kristen Boyd, Robin Frede, Rachel Ruckstuhl, Emma Cofer, Michael Fuuc, Reid Ravin and Sarah Stephens