It turns out that the water in the creeks are mostly made up
of pre-event water, otherwise known as the water that comes from the ground, and
soil. This is unlike the new water that enters the stream during a storm
because of runoff and direct precipitation onto the body of water. So who
cares? Why does it even matter if the creek has water from the ground or if it
is from the rain? Well it turns out that this information is very important in
the manner that it brings us a new piece of pie that has come from a pie that we
believed was already whole.
After working for the entire summer on trying to understand
the East and Western parts of the watershed, we came across the results that
the water in the streams was majority from the Ground and not just runoff. This
is an exciting brand new topic to look at because the ground beneath our feet
has an entire story of its own. This story remarkably shows us that the world
beneath our feet is not the same when comparing the Western and Eastern parts
of the watershed. The East turns out to have layers of rock near the surface
that contains natural phosphorus. Alright that’s something pretty cool but if
it is the rocks then it is stuck there right? Well sadly that is wrong.
As it turns out while the water travels through the ground it
likes to pick up some extra items before it reaches the creeks. One of these
items is called Silica, which is an element found in rocks and just so happens
to be able to be removed by water. Silica was one of the items that we used to
figure out that most of the water is from the ground and not the sky. This is a
huge point because it turns out water likes picking up phosphorous, just like
it does Silica. This means in the east the water is bringing in naturally occurring
Phosphorous into the creeks, such as 18 Mile Creek.
So why should we care about fixing the creeks and changing
our practices if the creek is only going to bring in its own Phosphorous? Well
the simple answer is that we can still focus on the other problems such as
runoff, and point source pollutions. This discovery leads us to also be able to
manage our policies better, so that they take into the account that natural occurring
phosphorous is in some of our streams.
Now we don’t know actually how much of the phosphorous is natural
but it is a lot better to know that our pie is whole once again.
In the end this project has and will need the incorporation
of all types of people to continue to work towards a solution. That being said
the LAKES-REU program has allowed us to hit the ground running for a solution,
but has also given me and my fellow interns an opportunity to work on a real
world solution so that we can actually make a difference in this world, and so
that we can be prepared for what lies ahead of us in our lives.
I would like to
personally thank all of my fellow LAKES-REU interns and mentors for giving me a
one of kind summer that I will never forget. In particularly I would like to
thank Dr. Matt Kuchta for teaching me all of the ropes of geological and
phosphorous research, and Andy and Jonah for keeping tough and helping me power
through the hundreds of water samples that we had to go through this summer. In
the end the biggest thank you has to go to the people of Menomonie, WI and of
the Red Cedar Watershed for being so accepting of us, for teaching us and making
us feel like one of your own. I’m so glad that I was able to give back to you
and hopefully help make a better difference in your life. So again, Thank You
to everyone for giving me this amazing summer! I have a long drive back to
Frederick, MD but I will miss you all and surely someday I will be back here in
Menomonie and see you all again.
Final Poster Presentation at the Raw Deal
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