water quality natural & controlled environments. monitoring natural environments photo courtesy...
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Water QualityNatural & Controlled
Environments
Monitoring natural
environments
Photo courtesy of Melissa Gutierrez
So who monitors our natural waters?
• Environmental Protection Agency-– Mission- protect human health,
safeguard environment
• Clean Water Act (1972)- law regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters
Nitrates (NO3) & phosphates (PO4)
• Run-off from commercial fertilizers and animal waste to near-by storm drains and creeks
• Scale from 0 – 1 ppm
• Can increase algal blooms and aquatic plants hypoxia (low oxygen)
Dissolved oxygen
• necessary for most life• hypoxia lowers tolerance
to stressors (pathogens, pollution, etc.) death
• enters water as a product of photosynthetic organisms & by water/air interactions
• Aquarium O2 = 7-9
Air temperature
• Varies
• Affects water temperature
Which water would
you rather jump
in to?
Water temperature• Varies
• Changes less rapidly than air temperature
• Cold water holds more DO
pH
• Range from 0-14 measuring acidity (< 7) or alkalinity (> 7) of substance
• pH of Water = 7.0
Turbidity
• Secchi disk- Measures transparency of fresh or saltwater
Fecal coliform bacteria
• Coliform bacteria (E. coli) found in feces & intestinal tract of warm-blooded animals
• Its presence may indicate presence of other harmful pathogens
• Animal waste washes into bodies of water after heavy rains
The Dead Zone
Hypoxia and anthropogenically increased nitrogen and phosphorus input
World Wide Effects of Eutrophication
Monitoring controlled environments
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