Purpose: The goal of this lab is to test the Chicago River physically, chemically, and biologically to investigate the water quality of this water source. Benefits to studying our drinking water sources include: The opportunities to look deeper into the water to discover what chemicals could be contaminating it, observe how the water source not only provides resource to humans but as a home to other organisms, and observe how the location of this source is affecting the water physically. .
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Description: The higher the Q-value, the better the test results. Average value is the overall health and quality of the Chicago River.
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Analysis: The data collected revealed some good and some poor indications of water quality. For physical data, according to Table 1, the test showed that the river was in poor quality. The water was green and brown and had an odor of sewage. With the river being channelized, there was a noticeable amount of water marks of previous water levels on the wall. These water marks looked slimy. Especially the water marks coming out of pipes. You can also see how muddy the floor of the river was. The bank on the left contained eroded cobble and gravel on the ground. There was plenty of brush and deciduous trees creating shade for most of the river. The river overall looked extremely unhealthy.
The chemical data indicated that the river was in decent condition. According to Table 2 and Graph 1, Turbidity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, temperature and pH had high scores in Quality Value. This means that they had very good qualities. However, there was a deficiency in phosphate. This is good because the less phosphate in the water, the more dissolved oxygen there will be. It is essential to have oxygen in the water. Phosphates are directly caused by sewage. Overall, the test proved that water quality is better than it looks.
Finally, the biological data showed that the water quality was good enough to even sustain the more sensitive types of invertebrates like in groups one and two.