Basic Certification Course Objectives
Name?
Introduce Alabama Water Watch (AWW)
Favorite place to enjoy water related activity?
What is that activity?
Explain basic water quality measurements used to determine
stream health
Provide hands on experience in using LaMotte water test kit
This course satisfies the requirement for Continuing
Education Units
6 hours = 0.6 CEUs
Please ask for a form before you leave
What is Alabama Water Watch (AWW)?
AWW objectives
Citizen volunteer monitoring program coordinated
through Auburn’s Department of Fisheries and Allied
Aquaculture, program began in 1992.
Educate citizens about water issues
Funded by EPA and ADEM
Train citizen monitors
Maintain quality and credibility of volunteers’ data
QA/QC protocol approved by EPA
Coordinate and disseminate citizen data
Data reported to ADEM
http://www.alabamawaterwatch.org
newsletter, listserve
watershed reports (these are available on-line)
AWW logo is a caddisfly, Hydropsyche (water spirit)
Alabama Water Watch Association
Incorporated, non-profit affiliation of AWW monitoring groups
Like a “foundation”
Helps raise funds for AWW
Funds used to purchase refill chemicals for active monitors
Membership open to all
Where does the water in a stream come from?
Watershed:
What chemical and physical parameters do AWW
monitors test?
land area drained by a stream
temperature (air and water)
also called a drainage basin
pH
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
What watershed do you live in?
DO saturation
Alkalinity
Hardness
Turbidity
Salinity
Where should you monitor?
When should you monitor?
Mid-day: between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM
Representative part of stream
Safe, legal access
At least once per month
How deep should you monitor?
Elbow depth if possible or mid-depth if too shallow
Use remote sampler rather than bucket
P. 80
Spring Creek, 1995
Spring Creek, 2002
Why should you monitor?
How should you monitor?
Responsibly...no data are better than bad data
Everything in the kit has a proper place
Don’t throw pad away
Test kit maintenance and general information
Keep reagent bottles in kit or in lid, not on ground or on dock
Use fresh chemicals
Check expiration date on bottle
Always return reagents to appropriate places
Dispose of used chemicals by pouring them on the ground or
collecting them in bottle to flush later
Different chemicals have different shelf lives
This information is on pages 35 of the manual
Check to be sure all lids are screwed on tight
Rinse glassware after use with tap water
Clean kit occasionally with water and brush, no soap or detergent
Do not store your kit in the car, it gets too
°C
=
°F
Temperature
Temperature measured in degrees Celsius
(Centigrade)
Air Temperature Minus Water Temperature at Moore Creek
In summer air is warmer than water, in winter air is cooler than water.
10
8
Warm water holds less dissolved gas than cold water
6
Affects feeding, reproduction, metabolic rates of
aquatic organisms
4
2
0
Rapid temperature changes stressful
-2
Affects nutrient cycles
-4
-6
Temps. Above 32° C (90° F) lethal to some organisms
-8
Temperature (pp. 46-47)
Check thermometer for
“bubbles” (breaks in
“mercury” column)
Do not hold the bulb in your
hand
Take air temperature first
Evaporation cools bulb, so
read water temperature
underwater or ASAP
Helpful hints
022511
Mobile
0930
Adding chemicals (reagents) to samples
Hold bottle or dropper vertically so drops will be uniform size
Count drops out loud
Record results immediately
Reading levels in tubes
Read the bottom of the meniscus
3
00
/20
7/ 2
/17
10
1/1
00
7/ 2
7/1
°C = (°F – 32) x 5/9
°F = (°C x 9/5) + 32
GEO 480
02
2
2
2
00
00
7/ 2
Summer
7/ 2
4/1
1/1
1
01
00
/20
7/ 2
7/1
Winter
/17
1
1
4/1
7/ 2
00
00
/20
7/ 2
/17
1/1
10
Summer
10
Winter
00
0
00
7/ 2
7/ 2
1/1
7/ 2
00
00
0
0
Summer
4/1
/19
/17
10
7/1
7/ 1
99
99
9
9
9
99
99
7/ 1
4/1
1/1
Winter
7/1
Summer
-10
7/ 1
Regulated by ADEM, max.= 32°C, 30°C (84°F) for
some waters
pH … the power of Hydrogen (pp. 48-49)
Neutral is 7.0
Acid is less than 7.0
Basic is greater than 7.0
Optimal range is 6.5 - 8.5
4> lethal pH >10
Affected by soil and plant life
Affected by industrial, municipal, agricultural runoff
In sea water, carbonate ions "buffer" pH changes
pH … the power of Hydrogen
Rinse test tube, fill to line, add 10 drops reagent, mix,
compare color
Record pH on data sheet
Total Hardness (pp. 50-51)
Measures dissolved calcium and magnesium
Limestone is natural source
Sea water is "hard"
Hard water leaves scaly deposits in pipes and decreases soap
action
Total Hardness
Rinse hardness test tube, fill to top line, add 5 drops Hardness
Reagent #5.
Add 1 Hardness Reagent #6 tablet Æ pink color, mix to dissolve.
Titrate with Hardness Reagent #7, drop and swirl, count drops
Continue until changes to true blue, go slowly.
Drops x 10 = hardness
Total Alkalinity (pp. 52-53)
Measures the "buffering capacity" of water
Well "buffered" systems resist changes in pH
Low alkalinity systems very susceptible to changes in pH
(ex. acid rain)
Carbonate and bicarbonate ions are "buffers"
Limestone is a common source of carbonates
Sea water is well "buffered"
Record hardness on data sheet
Total Alkalinity
Record alkalinity on data sheet
Rinse test tube (0289), fill to10 ml line, add 1 BCG-MR tablet Æ blue
Fill pipette with Alkalinity Titration Reagent, drop and swirl,
count drops
Continue until changes COMPLETELY to pink.
Drops x 5 = alkalinity
How does oxygen get into the water?
Dissolved Oxygen (pp. 54-59)
Diffuses into water from the air
Oxygen critical for aquatic organisms
Turbulence like waterfalls and waves add oxygen to water
Affects biodiversity
Affected by temperature, elevation, and salinity
Fluctuates seasonally and daily
What causes low oxygen levels in water?
Warm temperatures cause water to hold less oxygen
High elevations have less oxygen in air, less diffuses
into water
High salinity water holds less oxygen
High decomposition rates result in low oxygen
Nutrient input Æ Algal bloom Æ Decomposition
How low is too low?
ADEM regulations say 5 mg/liter
If oxygen is less than 4 mg/liter, highly stressful
environment
Deep stagnant water has less oxygen than
shallow flowing/wavy water
Aquatic plant photosynthesis adds oxygen to water
Read and record water temperature now
Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved Oxygen
Hold both bottles in one hand to rinse and fill both at same time
3) Add 8 drops of sulfuric acid to each bottle
Cap both and check for air bubbles
Shake vigorously until precipitate dissolves
Both bottles should have reagent added before moving to next reagent
Now your sample is fixed
Add 8 drops of each reagent (Eight is great!)
1) Add 8 drops Manganous Sulfate
Followed immediately by
2) Add 8 drops Alk. Pot. Iodide Azide
If the weather is bad, you could take
everything home now and finish it at
the kitchen sink. Don’t forget your
water sample (1 liter is PLENTY).
Mix gently by inverting bottle 10 times
set aside
let precipitate settle
below shoulder
Dissolved Oxygen
Rinse titrator tube with small amount of fixed sample
Fill tube to line, add 8 drops starch indicator, cap tube and
swirl
Dissolved Oxygen:
Filling and Reading
the Syringe
Draw up reagent until
lower part of collar
closest to point is on
"zero"
After titrating, read
dissolved oxygen
directly from syringe in
mg/liter at the same
place on the plunger
Dissolved Oxygen
Fill titrating syringe with 1 ml Sodium thiosulfate (10 units)
Please no air bubbles in the titrating syringe
Dissolved Oxygen
Holding tip of syringe in hole in cap, depress plunger to
release 1 drop at a time, swirl tube, proceed drop by drop
until color changes from blue to colorless
Insert syringe into hole in lid of titrator tube
Record dissolved oxygen on data sheet
Dissolved oxygen notes:
Titrate sample from first bottle
Empty titration tube
Titrate sample from second bottle
Results must be within 0.6 mg/l
If results are farther apart than 0.6, retitrate bottle #1
If #1 is still 0.6 from #2, retitrate bottle #2
If still over 0.6 mg/l difference, redo DO completely
Is the water holding all the DO it can at this temperature?
(pp. 60-62)
Record DO % saturation on data sheet
Turbidity: measure of cloudiness of water (pp. 63-66)
What causes turbidity?
Why is turbidity bad?
Soil in the water, especially clay and silt sized particles
Limits light penetration
Microscopic organisms in the water, algae and dinoflagellates
Smothers bottom dwelling organisms and clogs fish gills
Toxins may be attached to clay particles
How do we measure turbidity?
Turbidity meter measures light penetration in NTUs
Secchi disk measures visibility depth in meters (cm)
LaMotte kit measures cloudiness in JTUs
Jackson Turbidity Units
Measuring Turbidity
Measuring Turbidity
Fill sample tube with 50 ml of stream
water
If black dot on sample tube is "fuzzier" than black dot on control
tube,
Fill control tube with 50 ml of distilled
(or tap) water
Add 0.5 ml of standard turbidity reagent to control tube.
Place 2 columns side by side and
compare cloudiness by looking down
the tubes at black dots on bottom.
If sample tube is too cloudy to even
see the dot, reduce volume to 25 ml
Empty dropper into bottle, screw on lid, shake vigorously, fill
dropper immediately, empty dropper to 0.5 mark, add that 0.5 ml to
control tube, stir both tubes, compare again.
Continue process until control tube is as cloudy as the sample.
Keep track of the number of times you add 0.5 ml, multiply that
number by 5 Æ JTUs.
If sample was only 25 ml, multiply # of additions x 10 Æ JTUs
Record turbidity on data sheet
Salinity amount of dissolved "salt" in water (pp.61-69)
Normal sea water = 35 ppt.
To measure use:
Refractometer
Hydrometer
(must measure water temperature at same time)
Use conversion chart in manual
Record salinity if done, check and sign your data sheet
How to get a kit and get started?
Submitting data on-line
First submission must be done by mail
with signed liability release form
and with new site form if applicable.
Subsequent submissions on-line
Questions?