July 21st,2011

     Today we met Rose Danaher. She was water testing Price Creek which flows into the Iowa River. We met her in Amana. Price Creek is known to be an impaired stream with high levels of bacteria. A plan is in place to change this. The plan requires cooperation from the landowners in the region. Some ideas are fencing cattle so they don't go in the creek, updating septic systems, terracing fields, creating sediment basins, rotational grazing, and installing water stations above the creek so cattle don't need to enter the creek to get a drink. In one field nearby we saw terracing (I am including a picture of this), and in one part of Price Creek, they had successfully controlled erosion. Rip-rap (rocks and cement chunks) were added to the stream banks, a riffle (rocky area) was created in the stream to slow the water down, and after this riffle you could see the stream banks were not vertically eroded. (I am including pictures of this also). I liked seeing examples of controlling land erosion that were actually being used by farmers in the area. Students could see first-hand some good land use practices all being used in one area by local farmers. It brings the real world into the classroom. We read about such things but don't often get to see them.

     Later, we returned to check our IOWATER bacteria results and compare them to the bacteria tests done in the lab. For my location on the Wapsipinicon River, the lab test showed E.Coli at 10 per 100ml of water. Not safe for drinking but safe for recreation. The IOWATER test gave me 2 plates with zero for E.Coli bacteria and one with 100/100ml of water. That was similiar (and still safe for recreation). Mary recomended instead of diluting with 1ml of river water per 100 ml of water with the IOWATER test, I use 3 ml per 100 ml to get better results. My bacteria level was so low, I needed less dilution. Eric, on the other hand, had a lot more bacteria in his creek, so he needs to dilute more to make it easier to count. I am including pictures of both bacteria plates (the colonies are the spots), see if you can tell which is which location! The part I was interested in was how you could adjust dilution to get better readings. We often have to adjust a Chemical test for different circumstances. I may not adjust the test next time, let the students run it, analyze why the results are not decisive and let them figure out how to adjust the test. A little problem-solving/trouble-shooting excercise in the lab!