Water Quality Progress

We are currently working on processing our data. After three class periods, we have finally finished measuring the nitrate concentration in our samples. We haven't entered or analyzed the data yet, but we suspect the results will be much lower than expected due the the low sensitivity of our methods. Our algae and leaf litter is dried and we now need to use the muffle furnace to determine how much of our samples is organic matter and how much is just sediment. We did begin entering data in class today. I don't know what Marissa and Travis's results for temperature and turbidity were, but the results for turbidity were not statistically significant. I hypothesized that urban streams would be more turbid than urban streams due to decreased canopy cover, vegetation, and species diversity. If you just look at the data in more detail it is clear that the urban streams are more turbid. However, due to the extreme turbidity of the urban stream by the baseball complex, there was a very large standard error. I think the plan is to start measuring phosphate levels next week since we will be attending the steering committee meeting tomorrow.