Dog River Farms expected impact on the water quality.
With the flooding of the river in 2011, it is at the utmost importance to try and locate where the source of contaminants originate from. The ecosystem of a river or water system relies heavily on the proper balance between levels of dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate, and phosphate. Have such specific levels allows for the natural ecosystem to thrive within its environment. While small fluctuation in these levels are tolerable, too much of one or the other and tip the balance point and hinder the environment within the water system.
The geography of Dog River allows it to become vulnerable to an increase of levels due to the high amount of agricultural land the river flows through. On average, the conditions of the Dog River have gotten it labeled as a perfectly clean and healthy water system. This means that all levels are manageable for all life organisms to survive in the river. However, in situations such as those of hurricane Irene in 2011, high amounts of fertilizer and pollutants (nitrate and phosphate) contaminated the river. The picture above shows how one farm on the Dog River had its fields flooded. This high amount of access water runs off into the river increasing the levels of pollutants.
Locating sensitive areas near the Dog River that lead to high runoff points, will ultimately help with the decline of pollutants entering the river. By locating the point source of the pollutants, the necessary measures can be taken to counteract the runoff. The most successful outcome would be to create diversion river or pipes that lead the polluted water away from the river and have it mix with normal storm water runoff. This will allow for the contaminated water to enter a water treatment plant to be cleaned and released back to the river as fresh water.