Water Quality in the Animas River Watershed

Grace Frideger

What new information did you learn through doing this project?
When approaching this project, I was most drawn to the idea of how aquatic
life is affected by water quality. After listening to the Guest Speakers and doing
some research outside of class, I was surprised to learn that fish had in fact not
been negatively affected by the Gold King mine spill. If such an overt change in
habitat had not affected the aquatic life, what could? This brought me, along with
my group, to an investigation on what effects aquatic life in our river. Our research
quickly led us to a process called Eutrophication. Eutrophication is when an
excessive amount of nutrients exist in a body of water and leads to the overgrowth
of plants and algae within the water. The excess of plant life takes the dissolved
oxygen out of the water, leading to the death of fish. Dissolved oxygen is very
important to the existence and growth of aquatic life. Many pollutants that enter a
body of water put a demand on the dissolved oxygen, taking more of it and leaving
less available to the aquatic life. A system called biochemical oxygen demand is a
system used by water treatment plants to understand how well the treatment plant
is working. If the water, after going through the treatment plant is high in the
oxygen sucking pollutants, it is harder for aquatic life to flourish. Many of these
pollutants that suck oxygen are from land runoff pollution, things that contain
fertilizers, pesticides and soaps. A nutrient that exists in these common pollutants
is phosphorus, a nutrient that is key to Eutrophication. In our new SRWRF, new
regulations to lower the amount of Phosphorus found in the water have been
planned into our new water treatment facility. The effects these new regulations
will have on the reduction of Eutrophication in our river felt relevant to focus on
and learn about.

What new skills or dispositions did you learn from this project?
When this project was pitched, I joined a group with Brigid and Lily. As we were
brainstorming, Ari became interested and we invited him to join. With four people
in a group, all with different strengths, delegation would be important to our
success. We chose to break the group into two sections: writing and illustration.
We researched together and then broke into our assigned roles to start our project.
However, before our clever system ever had the time to take shape, one of our
group members was so tragically yanked from our group, the project, and the
school. This unexpected event threw our group into a crisis that drastically threw
us off of our established plans. This shock to the group’s system was difficult to
recover from. But recover we must. This sudden change led to a bit of
disorganization that persisted throughout the project. Our communication was at
times not effective and our working styles sometimes clashed. With the old system
impossible to operate in, the roles were more loosely absorbed by the three of us.
This more fluid system proved to work out but left some members with more to do.
It was interesting to work in a group that had two very verbal people and one less
communicative person. While this sometimes led to outbursts from the more vocal
members, I was very impressed how we ended up doing our own pieces and doing
them well. What I learned from working with this less communicative member was
that if I trusted him to complete his work, and didn’t pester him, the work would be
done. It made me realize that working in a group with people that aren’t as verbal
about their progress, it is important to provide the space and trust that they will get
it done. In the end we had a polished, presentable project that met most nearly all
of our hopes with which we had started. Even with a rocky start, our fluidity and
acceptance of work styles proved to be successful.

To what extent is the study of water quality an important topic to investigate

in school and in a chemistry class in particular?
Studying water quality is of utmost importance to education as citizens of
Durango, the USA and the world at large. I have seen the power of water in this
community. When the Gold King mine spill hit our town, the effects were
profound. The shared disbelief and pain that was experienced in this community
was widespread. Growing up using the river, and seeing its economical importance
to this town, it impressed upon me the power of water. It has been interesting to
look at what exactly is happening in relation to the protection of our river on a
more scientific level. Learning about what pollutants exist in our river, how they
enter our river and their effects and how the SRWRF will treat our water has given
me a new understanding of the depth of water, one that is much deeper than the
rocky bottom. The most impactful part of my project was learning about the new
regulations placed on phosphorus in our new plant. This new addition showed to
me the receptivity of the water treatment facility to the needs of this community. It
acknowledged a problem, learned about it, investigated its effects on our
ecosystems and then made efforts to address this problem. To me, it shows a
connection to community in a way that I find very compelling. Water is a central
part of this community, communities in general, and it is increasingly relevant and
important to understand what exists in our water and how to treat it in a socially
responsible and environmentally conscious way.