Student Research Reports
Does increased precipitation affect the water quality of Norwalk Creek
Organization(s):Main Street Intermediate School
Country:United States of America
Student(s):Students of Marcy Burns
Grade Level:Upper Primary (grades 3-5, ages 8-11)
GLOBE Educator(s):Marcy Burns
Contributors:Hayden Barnes Lillie Beers Geovanni Blair
Joe Borgia Jack Bowles Jesse Copenhaver
Zachary Crane Braiden Culver Amber Dellinger
Claira Doll Quinn Jaworski Jadon Magee
Kayle Mowry Sam Neuberger Alicia Orwig
Caroline Pawlicki Ben Penrose Allison Reed
Dylan Rickert Isabella Shipman Haleigh Skinner
Tony Snyder Mitchell Sommers Ryan Sowders
Stephen Wetzel Davis Wilkinson Lance Young
Report Type(s):
Protocols:Nitrates, Conductivity, Air Temperature, Precipitation, pH, Clouds
Language(s):
Date Submitted:05/01/2013
Norwalk Creek flows through our small city. During the past thirty years the annual average precipitation has increased. There has been an increase in the incidents of flooding because of heavy rainfalls. We wanted to find out if runoff from precipitation affects the quality of the water in Norwalk Creek. We hypothesized that runoff would have a negative effect on the water in the stream. Water samples were collected on the east side of the city and the west side for four weeks and tested for pH, nitrate-nitrogen, and conductivity. After looking carefully at the data, we concluded that pH and nitrate-nitrogen were not affected very much by runoff. Conductivity increased after the roads were salted. Additional testing is needed during the spring, summer, and fall seasons to get a better picture of how runoff may affect the water quality in Norwalk Creek.