Photograph and drawing of my "Spot" on the Kokosing River in Gambier, Ohio.

I have always been fascinated by water. Spending the majority of my teen years as a competitive synchronized swimmer spending 40+ hours per week in the pool, I feel deeply connected to and appreciative of water which makes the sport I love so much possible. In synchronized swimming, you learn to manipulate water to move your body through it in beautiful ways. I learned that water was there to move through and I always had a strong sense of how I felt while in the water- powerful. I was in control. Different variables from the temperature to the amount of chlorine made our relationship waver from day to day, but I knew that I could always rely on it to be there and to allow me to take control. I knew I always had a safe space in the water. Spending time along the banks of the Kokosing river this fall forced me to rethink and evolve my relationship with water for the better. Rather than spending time within the water of the river, I observed it from a new perspective. I did not swim or touch or feel I just looked, listened, and observed. Over the past few months, my relationship with water has been strengthened because I discovered the power of visual observation.

While spending my peaceful afternoons at my spot on the bank of the Kokosing I found myself questioning things about the river that seemed juvenile but that I did not have answers to. Why are there currents in some spots but not others? How cold or warm is the water and how does that change throughout the season? But one question that seemed to constantly puzzle my mind was how much water was passing by me as I spent my 30ish minutes at my spot. On October 18th, 2020 I wrote in my field observation notebook; “The water seems to be moving faster today and I wonder why? What is the temperature of the water? Does water temperature affect how quickly it moves? How much water is flowing?” I could only imagine an answer until in class we talked about river discharge. River discharge is a measurement of how much water is moving down the river in a given amount of time. Calculating river discharge can be tricky, but can be computed by multiplying the area of water in a channel by the velocity of the water (USGS 1). Meaning that water discharge was my ticket to understanding how much water was flowing by my spot in the amount of time I was sitting there observing it.

There are two ways in which scientists measure velocity which is necessary to calculate river discharge; first, current meters and second, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (USGS 1). Current meters have wheels which revolve around a vertical axis while turning each revolution is timed and counted and the “timed revolutions” are what determines the velocity of the water (USGS 1). The other method of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler is more advanced and it sends pulses into the water to measure the changes in frequency in the sounds which are reflected back by sediments or other things moving through the water (USGS 1). Once the velocity of the water is calculated and multiplied by the area, the river discharge can be determined and used to understand the constantly changing stream channels (USGS 1).

There are so many factors that can cause a change in water discharge including erosion, deposition, vegetation growth, debris or ice melt (USGS 1). These changes are also apparent in the Kokosing river. Although I was not able to physically observe or measure the water discharge rates during my time at my spot, I found data from the past week about the changing discharge (per cubic feet per second). The river discharge this week in the Kokosing river was very up and down, hitting a high of 650ft/s^2 on December 1st and a low of 244ft/s^2 on December 7th. (USGS 2). This drastic change could be accredited to any of the factors listed above, but my best guess is ice! This week was cold and snowy and the freezing and melting of the water may have impacted the amount of river discharge. There was also a lot of rain the week prior. Through a stronger understanding of how river discharge is calculated and what factors could impact the amount of river discharge, I feel more confident in answering this quantifying question about how much water is passing by me. With a current meters or an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and a little bit of patience- river discharge can be calculated and understood. Although I never calculated the river discharge, I felt power in knowing that I could. Learning the science behind a seemingly complicated concept like river discharge, further deepened my connection with water because I am understanding it not just from a physical and visual perspective, but also from a scientific one.

Through my field observations each week I was able to observe more than just the scientific concepts but also the feelings I had while observing the water. Spending time doing the guided exercises always helped me to center myself and to prepare to indulge in observation. I always found myself feeling unsettled and almost out of place when I would first arrive at my spot. I remember one day coming to my spot after having written an essay all day, my head was swirling with things I had to do when I got back to my room, but I tried to focus on the water and just watch it pass by instead of letting myself stress out over something I could not control in the moment. The water always seemed to sooth my stress away and I found peace in the fact that I could not control the water. Controlling water was what I had grown up doing, as a synchronized swimmer and at that point in my life that was my happy space. But reflecting back I find it beautiful that I no longer feel the need to control the water to maintain peace, but just observing it brings me serenity. Another key activity I spent time doing at my spot that helped me to strengthen this observational connection to water was drawing. I have never considered myself to be an artist, but I found myself sometimes sitting at my spot for over an hour just drawing what I saw. Not even to submit for a grade, but just because I was genuinely enjoying the act of making an observation, processing it, and trying to recreate it in a drawing. I took photographs at my spot that I have included as my visual aspect to my project and I have tried to recreate the photographs with colored pencils. I wanted to try and see how two perspectives of the same place could be interpreted in different ways. I voice over my drawings to explain my thinking behind them.

My experience sitting along the banks of Kokosing river has strengthened my relationship with not only water and my spot but myself. Through gaining a deeper connection with something I considered to know so well, water, I learned that there is so much possibility that physical, visual and scientific observation can bring. I found so much beauty in the feelings I had while just sitting and observing. In my busy lifestyle I take little time for myself to just be. My time with the water focusing on deepening my connection to it has opened up a new chapter of my life where I plan to take in and observe the little things in life. There are so many things in life to observe in a deep and meaningful way, and water is only the beginning for me.

Works Cited

(USGS 1) “How Streamflow Is Measured.” USGS Science For a Changing World, www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/how-streamflow-measured?qt-science_center_objects=0.

(USGS 2) “USGS 03136500 Kokosing River at Mount Vernon OH.” USGS Current Conditions for USGS 03136500 Kokosing River at Mount Vernon OH, 7 Dec. 2020, waterdata.usgs.gov/oh/nwis/uv/?site_no=03136500.