Students Test Blacks Run River

Five EMU Environmental Chemistry students assess the health of the Blacks Run River in downtown Harrisonburg by taking samples once a week.

"Our watershed is connected to all of Virginia," said Tara Kishbaugh, coordinator of the project labs. "Eventually our water makes it to the Chesapeake Bay. The fertilizers that run into our waterways aren't just a local problem. It's more of a larger scale problem. The health of our water affects other communities and the quality of their water and their water's health. We're making sure that the definition of community is not just 'us.' Other people would like to have healthy waters also."

Through this process, EMU students are helping the Blacks Run organization by giving them the test results. EMU students beneÞ t because the measurements taken are "real life" and have real results. "We're doing it to learn about how it's done, while other people do it more to monitor stream health," said junior Phil Shirk, a student on the project.

Appropriate amounts of oxygen are essential in the survival of the stream's living organisms, for decomposition of organic matter (leaves, for example), and other important chemical reactions. The students assess the stream's health by measuring the amount of dissolved oxygen, or DO, which measures the amount of oxygen gas dissolved in the water itself. The calculations yielded results that suggest consistent levels of oxygen between six and nine milligrams per liter each week. The DO is directly affected by the water's temperature, which was reported to be fairly constant at 14 degrees Celsius. "These findings are a little low for the temperature profile. The stream isn't quite as healthy as we'd expect, but the results aren't so low that it's at a dangerous level," said Kishbaugh.

The students also conduct tests that help determine the condition of the river's water, focusing on the demand for oxygen in the water. The water was initially measured for the DO and bottled and untouched for five days, leaving the microorganisms to consume the available oxygen. Small decreases in oxygen were sometimes evident in secondary measurements, which would indicate some oxygen consumption, though more tests are in the process of being conducted to present further results. "We've learned that it's really difficult to get reproducible data," said Kishbaugh. "It takes five days for the results to be measurable...We haven't yet reached the EPA level of acceptability. We think we know what went wrong. We hope to have the results back next week about the oxygen demand."

Another determining factor in the stream's health is the presence of various forms of nitrogen in the water, which would include ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. Nitrate and ammonia have been the two most consistently present, which could be a result of runoff from fertilized lawns or local industrial discharges. These could prove to be the stream's most serious health threat. Some of the group's most significant findings in this area were gathered following a heavy rainstorm. The levels were not terribly high until the rainstorm.

Tests to calculate the pH level are currently being revised so that at any given time out on the site it is possible to obtain a measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the stream. Preliminary results display a pH level that is conducive for biological organisms to function, though a more extensive analysis will hopefully be possible with the revised tests.