Stream Water and Lead Sampling

Reflection

Today I had the most fun out of all the sampling days, likely because there was less stuff to do. I explored more, venturing farther upstream and looking for interesting creatures. I found three American giant millipedes, lots of tiny, cool, mushrooms, more frogs, and an unidentifiable (for me) white oval with wings and legs sticking out of it. Most of those were likely so active because of the rain this morning. While I was venturing farther upstream I also found a small rivulet that fed into the brook. Curious about how its water compared to that in the brook, I decided to take samples from it. 

The tiny tributary turned out to be colder, more acidic, and conductive than the water in the brook I've been monitoring. After waiting for the temperature to stop changing, which took a lot longer than one minute, I found out that the water in the rivulet was only 59.2 degrees Fahrenheit! The lower conductivity could have been a result of the colder water temperature. Upon further inspection, I found that the little creek was coming from a spring. The fact that the water was coming from underground was likely why it was so cold. The spring came out of a steep pine-needle-covered slope and was only around 20 feet from the book. I imagine that the higher acidity of the rivulet came from the pH of the soil it came out of. The ground was covered in pine needles where the spring started. While I'm not sure how much pine needles can do, I do wonder if the spring's acidity came from them. 

One last thing I did today was collect soil samples from around my house. These will be tested for lead in the lab. Because I have a relatively new house, and therefore no lead paint, I don't think there will be high levels.