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This experiment focused on the question, “How is Lake Heritage affected by the water quality in its tributaries?” The hypothesis states that the Plum Run tributary will contribute more nutrient pollution and sediment load to Lake Heritage than the unnamed tributary because Plum Run is surrounded by farmland and housing developments, both of which will contribute nutrients and sediment to the lake through runoff due to fertilizer use and erosion by pastureland. The independent variable is location. The dependent variables are nitrates in parts per million, pH in logarithmic units, water temperature in Celsius, dissolved oxygen in parts per million, phosphates in ppm, and water transparency in centimeters. The controls for this experiment are the times of observation, the study sites, the testing equipment, and the GLOBE protocols. The experiment was conducted using CHEMets dissolved oxygen, phosphates, and nitrates kits, a Hanna Instruments pH meter, an alcohol filled thermometer, and a transparency tube according to GLOBE protocols. Water was collected at each site and the water quality tests were completed according to the instructions and protocols. The data partially supported the hypothesis. Plum Run did display higher nitrates levels, lower transparency, and high phosphate levels throughout the eight weeks of data collection. However, the contribution of the tributary to Lake Heritage was not entirely consistent. On most occasions, the data did seem to be more influenced by Plum Run or equally influenced by both tributaries. All of the parameters followed two trends: the lake data was closer to one tributary or the other or the lake data was in between the levels of the tributaries. On some occasions, neither of these trends applied, which could be due to precipitation events. If this experiment were to be continued, more data would be collected to create a more detailed picture of the trends in the data. This project is important to the real world because a comprehensive plan for the remediation of Lake Heritage can be composed using the findings of this project. This plan could also be used as a model for larger watersheds, such as the Chesapeake Bay, which has a similar problem. Keywords: nitrates, dissolved oxygen, pH, water temperature, phosphates, water transparency, sediment load, nutrients, and tributary