THE WATER QUALITY OF POE CREEK: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE HAMILTON COUNTY, TENNESSEE HIGH SCHOOL EARTH EXPLORERS

The Earth Explorers is an after-school club for high school students in the Hamilton County, Tennessee area. It is part of a program funded by the National Science Foundation Geoscience Division: Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences (GEO 0503539 to Jones). As part this two-year pilot program and to teach the students about research, a long term water quality testing program was established. The students were taught how to collect stream water samples and analyze them for six variables using a Hach water quality test kit and colorimeter. The kit contains analyses for dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate (NO₃), total iron (Fe), chlorine (Cl), pH and temperature. Samples were collected on four days in 2006: March 13, May 8, October 31 and November 28. The average concentrations for the constituents were: DO 7.65 mg/L, NO₃ 0.45 mg/L, Fe 0.19 mg/L, Cl 0.03 mg/L and pH 7.4. The temperature range was 13-18^oC. Although flow was not measured, the students observed that the first and last samples were collected within 24 hours after a major precipitation event. Maximum DO concentrations (9.8 and 8.1 mg/L) were recorded in these two samples. Nitrate has increased over time while Cl has decreased. The maximum Fe concentration of 0.59 mg/L may be anomalous because the other concentrations were between 0.05 and 0.07 mg/L. There was no relationship between temperature and concentration.