Impact of Flow Rate on Water Quality of the River Yare - Lab Report Example

This problem has been mostly alleviated through the removal of phosphorus from these sources before dumping. However, the current concern that is most pressing in regards to the health of the river Yare are the changes in its flow rate that have come as a result of human activity. The present study is meant to investigate the biotic scores from two distinct sampling sites, a "Fast Flow" area and a "Slow Flow" area, and to determine if they are influenced by factors other than organic pollution In order to assess the environmental impact of changes in flow rate velocity on the river Yare, we employed the Biological Monitoring Working Party method (see BMWP).

Two sample sets have been collected. The first set was collected in an area of the river designated "Slow Flow" and a second set from a "Fast Flow" area. The area of the river considered as Slow Flow had the following characteristics: meandering, reed lined, no organic matter on Benthos, sediment sand, gravel, no visible flows, mixed banks, clear water, no algae, 0.5 m/s surface velocity, 5 m width. The characteristics of the Fast Flow collection area had the following characteristics: shallow 15-20 cm, stony riffle, surface speed 1 m/s, steep sides, sloping sides, deciduous trees on sides, fallen leaves in water, some green weed in Benthos, water is clear.

In this field study, the presence of a variety of species i. Since the mayfly is the most sensitive to the effects of pollution, it is given the rating of 10. Worms, which are relatively insensitive to pollution, are given a score of 1. The total score accumulated from many samples is then assessed in relation to previous scores.Results The raw individual data for the Slow Flow collection as well as the Fast Flow collection is shown in Figure 1. Pooled group data is shown in Figure 2 for both Slow Flow and Fast Flow sampling.

Results of the SPSS analysis of the raw individual data is shown in Figure 3. For the Slow Flow data, p=0.00 and p