Main objective
For this project, the main objective was for our class to go down to the Coquitlam River and our Oxbow pond to learn and hunt about the invertebrates that live in our local waters. My group and I have analyzed the water quality results for two waterways, the Coquitlam River and the Oxbow pond. To continue on, each group was sent out to the waterways to test and analyze many aspects of the waterways, for example, the temperature, and any living invertebrates in the water.
How does this connect to the 4 spheres?
Since learning about this unit we have learned about the hydrosphere and biosphere and how it connects to the water quality and the living invertebrates, living animals, in the water. Geosphere was also implemented when we went hunting for animals in the waterways. For example, we had to find where we were in the watershed based on the floor of the waterway. We have also touched a bit of the atmosphere from when we tested the temperature and pointed the thermometer into the sky.
Below are the results from both waterways.
Riverside’s Oxbow Pond:
| Test | Result | Units |
Q-value |
Weighting Factor |
Weighted Q-value |
| Dissolved Oxygen | 90 | % saturation | 93 | 0.23 | 21.39 |
| pH | 6.5 | pH units | 70 | 0.15 | 10.5 |
| Temperature Change | 1 | oC | 91 | 0.14 | 13.65 |
| Nitrates | 0 | mg/L NO3 | 98 | 0.14 | 13.72 |
| Phosphates | 5 | mg/L PO4 | 13 | 0.14 | 1.82 |
| Turbidity | 8 | NTU | 80 | 0.11 | 8.8 |
| Total Dissolved Salts | 100 | mg/L | 85 | 0.10 | 8.5 |
| Approximate Water Quality Index | 78.38 |
Based on the water quality index, I could say that the water quality is good with a minor impairment. Conditions may depart from desirable levels. Still, it supports a high diversity of life. But looking at what invertebrates we have found in the Oxbow pond, we can further interpret the water quality based on what invertebrates live there. Since finding an alderfly larva, damselfly, and a waterboat men, we can see that they fit in the second category in the appendix 1, and those in the second category can live in fairly good water. So from this information, we can find that the water quality of 78.38, from our research above, and the invertebrates living in the water to find that the water is excellent but not as good, with a little bit of impairment.
Coquitlam River :
| Test | Result | Units |
Q-value |
Weighting Factor |
Weighted Q-value |
| Dissolved Oxygen | 92 | % saturation | 95 | 0.23 | 21.85 |
| pH | 6.5 | pH units | 70 | 0.15 | 10.5 |
| Temperature Change | 0.7 | oC | 91 | 0.14 | 12.74 |
| Nitrates | 0 | mg/L NO3 | 98 | 0.14 | 13.72 |
| Phosphates | 0.4 | mg/L PO4 | 78 | 0.14 | 10.92 |
| Turbidity | 2 | NTU | 93 | 0.11 | 10.23 |
| Total Dissolved Salts | 50 | mg/L | 87 | 0.10 | 8.7 |
| Approximate Water Quality Index | 88.66 |
At the Coquitlam river, we have found that the approximate water quality is around 88.66. Looking at the water quality chart, we can see that the water quality is very close to excellent but still stays in the good category. And when we look at the invertebrates, we can see that the mayfly larva, stonefly larva, and the others we have found all belong to category one in the appendix 1.
Comparison:
The differences I can see from the analysis is that dissolved oxygen is 2 more in the Coquitlam River than in the Oxbow Pond. The Coquitlam River has fairly more of dissolved oxygen, q-values of everything, but lower dissolved salts, turbidity, phosphates, and temperature change. Since both waterways have good water quality, we could say that all three categories of the appendix 1 can live in both waterways peacefully.
Reflection:
During these two weeks of learning about spheres and looking into and analyzing different waterways made the experience and better understanding of this unit to me from visual and fun learning. I had fun hunting and capturing invertebrates in the river and pond and also researching about them to identify and determine whether or not the water will or can have the specific invertebrates survive from the water quality. I have learned a lot from this unit as we got to analyze the q-values as a class and go over every detail there is to know about water quality, living animals (invertebrates), and about the spheres and how they are affected through this experiment.