Silverton Write Up

Task Statement:
The Junior class at Animas High school took a trip to Silverton to test the water quality of
the Animas River tributaries such as the Upper Animas, Mineral Creek, and Cement Creek.

Introduction:
Our 11th-grade class traveled to Silverton, specifically to three sites where we performed
tests on the water. The purpose of the investigation was to find the water quality of the three
tributaries of the lower Animas River. We completed six tests at each of the locations regarding
Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (% and mg/L), Turbidity, Conductivity, and Stream Flow.
The three sites were the Upper Animas, Mineral Creek, and Cement Creek. Our class was
assigned one of the tributaries, Mineral Creek, to perform all the tests on. There was heavy
mining in Silverton before the 1900s and in 2015 one of the mines, The Gold King Mine, spilled
into Cement Creek. This turned the normal color of the lower Animas River orange for a few
days. At first, everyone was worried about the wildlife in the river and they werent sure if it
would kill off any fish or other species in or around the river. During this trip, we talked with an
Animas Rivers stake shareholder where he explained that the Gold King mine spill had no effect
on the wildlife at all besides the color change of the Animas River.

Methods/Process:
Testing:
For the testing, there were 6 tests completed on the water in the Upper Animas tributary.
The test included; temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (% and mg/L), Turbidity, Conductivity,
Stream Flow. These tests were conducted by multiple groups to have multiple data values for
quality assurance. The data was recorded and inputted into a central sheet for data evaluation.
In other words, we found the temperature (), the acidity (pH), the speed of the water
(Streamflow), the oxygen in the water for how much life the creek could contain (Dissolved
oxygen), then how murky or clear the water was (turbidity), finally find how much metal
minerals dissolved in the water, so electricity could pass through (conductivity).

Test and Process Performed

Temperature Using a temperature probe, with a digital

Importants
Has an effect on properties important to other areas
in the water, one example is Dissolved Oxygen
level, the higher the temperature the more Oxygen
can be in the water, opposite for colder temps.
reader we placed it into the open water of
the river and held it there for a full minute.
Our reading was in .
 pH
Importants
pH is a measurement of acidity and alkalinity of
water or technically a number of positive Hydrogen
atoms in the water. Most life needs to stay around
neutral (pH 7) to survive.
Dissolved Oxygen (% and mg/L)
Importants
The survival of fish, invertebrates, bacteria, and
underwater plants depends on it being in the water.
As well its needed for the decomposition of
organic matter.
Turbidity
Importants
Clarity in the water allows for sunlight to be in the
water.This helps underwater plants aquatic plants,
smother aquatic organisms, and carry contaminants
and pathogens, such as lead, mercury, and bacteria.
Conductivity
Importants
The amount of electricity passing through the water
shows how much metal material is dissolved in the
water. The more that is dissolved in the water the
less other more valuable materials can be in the
water.
Stream Flow
Importants
This tells us how fast the river is moving and the
volume of water that is being moved over time.
Knowing this allows us to know how much and the
speed at which a contaminant is at if in the river.
Using a pH meter we calibrated the sensor
with known pH solutions. After that, we
placed the meter into the open water of the
river. We held it there until we had a solid
reading.
Using a dissolved oxygen probe we placed it
into the open water of the river and held it
there for a full minute. The test was
conducted twice, once in percent (%) and
again in mg/L.
Using a sensor that we first calibrated by
using a solution that was 100% clear
inserted into the sensor and read by a digital
reader. After the calibration, we took
samples of water from the river and placed it
in the sensor.
We used a conductivity sensor and attached
it to a device and first calibrated it, then put
the long tube in the open water of the creek.
We held it there for a little until it stayed at
a solid number instead of repeatedly
bouncing around from one number to
another.
To find the stream flow we measured out
50ft along the side of the creek and took a
bobber and threw it in the water at one end
of the 50ft we measured out. Then we timed
how long it took the bobber to get from one
side of the 50ft to the other. We tested this 5
times and took the average of all the data
recorded.
 Visual Representations:

Below are pivot tables made with student data gathered, on the left side the names of the
rivers are listed. Above that in gray is the test listed with the average, median, standard deviation
(STDEV), max and finally minimum. All these are important because they help us to double
check our data in various ways. Each number except STDEV should be close to the rest. Now
STDEV is the opposite, you want a lower number. Using these tables are very important to
evaluate large amounts of data in a spreadsheet.

10/12/2017
AVERAGE of AVERAGE of STDEV of MAX of MIN of
Temperature (C) Temperature (C) Temperature (C) Temperature (C) Temperature (C)
Cement Creek 9.483333333 9.5 0.2316606714 9.8 9.1
Mineral Creek 6.88 6.9 0.1303840481 7 6.7
Upper Animas 4.6 4.6 0.1 4.7 4.5
AVERAGE of
pH MEDIAN of pH STDEV of pH MAX of pH MIN of pH
Cement Creek 3.818 3.7 0.4490211576 4.6 3.45
Mineral Creek 7.046666667 7.04 0.05033222957 7.1 7
Upper Animas 6.51 6.51 1.428355698 7.52 5.5
AVERAGE of MEDIAN of STDEV of Turbidity MAX of Turbidity MIN of Turbidity
Turbidity (NTU) Turbidity (NTU) (NTU) (NTU) (NTU)
Cement Creek -0.2333333333 -2.7 13.90836679 16.3 -17
Mineral Creek 13.7 10 15.87671251 31.1 0
Upper Animas -1.146666667 0.78 3.337084556 0.78 -5
AVERAGE of MEDIAN of STDEV of MAX of Streamflow MIN of Streamflow
Streamflow (cfs) Streamflow (cfs) Streamflow (cfs) (cfs) (cfs)
Cement Creek 28.94 30.57 7.882108516 35.62 19.00
Mineral Creek 49.966 46 25.53108435 77.248 26.65
Upper Animas 12.91 12.91 #DIV/0! 12.91 12.91
AVERAGE of MEDIAN of MAX of MIN of
Conductivity Conductivity STDEV of Conductivity Conductivity
(uS/cm) (uS/cm) Conductivity (uS/cm) (uS/cm) (uS/cm)
Cement Creek 989 983.5 21.24460716 1017 972
Mineral Creek 427 427 #DIV/0! 427 427
Upper Animas 302 302 #DIV/0! 302 302
 AVERAGE of MEDIAN of
Dissolved Dissolved Oxygen STDEV of Dissolved MAX of Dissolved MIN of Dissolved
Oxygen (mg/L) (mg/L) Oxygen (mg/L) Oxygen (mg/L) Oxygen (mg/L)
Cement Creek #DIV/0! #NUM! #DIV/0! 0 0
Mineral Creek #DIV/0! #NUM! #DIV/0! 0 0
Upper Animas 8.513333333 8.5 0.02309401077 8.54 8.5
AVERAGE of
Dissolved MEDIAN of STDEV of Dissolved MAX of Dissolved MIN of Dissolved
Oxygen (% Dissolved Oxygen Oxygen (% Oxygen (% Oxygen (%
saturation) (% saturation) saturation) saturation) saturation)
Cement Creek #DIV/0! #NUM! #DIV/0! 0 0
Mineral Creek #DIV/0! #NUM! #DIV/0! 0 0
Upper Animas 94.23333333 94.2 0.1527525232 94.4 94.1

Prediction:
Using weighted averages we found that the pH of all three tributaries should be 5.97.
That was using the data mostly from streamflow and the individual pHs of the rivers to
determine the value put together. We took our data for streamflow and turned it into
percentages then multiplied them by the pH values. This was done with the pH and streamflow
of the same river for each. Then we added the final values together to get the pH value of all of
them put together.

Evaluation:
I thought this project was a lot of fun and very educational. I feel like it is important to
learn about water quality just because it's an everyday need and one of the things that make up
your life. This project wasnt too hard and wasnt too easy either, it was the perfect amount of
difficulty. One thing I would change in this project is to possibly collaborate a little more between
teachers so that the write-up has a bit little more of a flow to it.

The Importance:
It is important to test water quality because water is an everyday need for every living
thing in the world and if it is contaminated we would need to know so we can fix it before it kills
or hurts us humans or animals. Temperature, streamflow, conductivity, turbidity, pH, dissolved
oxygen, all of these things that we test for tell us how clean and safe the water is. There are
many examples of water contamination like a mine spill, fertilizer or other chemicals in the
water. All these affect humans because if the water is contaminated we cant go play or swim or
have any contact with the water without risking becoming sick. The Animas River runs right
through our town of Durango and the whole town uses the Animas in the summer when the
water demand is high, we fish out of the Animas as well as use it for fire control.

Self-Assessment:
Evan: During this write up I found Tanner was a good partner to work with and as a group, I feel
that our work could be worth a B or maybe a A-. Thinking back, we tried to stick close to the
requirements to the requirements for the write up to the best of our abilities. Our depth is decent
on each topic but I feel we could have added more of the formula work or data representation to
the document. Although I feel that for myself that our document hits right in there for not being
too long but still have the content.

Tanner: I think overall Evan and I did some fairly accurate as well as good work. I believe we
deserve an A- or B+ because overall everything is well written and well defined.