Water quality is very important in the survival of habitats in the water ecosystem. The Dog River in Northfield Vermont has always been a well-known trout fishery on a national level. In 2011 this changed due to the flooding of hurricane Irene. Destroying river banks and rerouting the river killed off a lot of the fish. Now we want to study the rivers quality so that the fish population can be built back up to what it was before the flood. Dissolved oxygen is very important for fish life but can be depleted with pollutants. Taking test along the river from its start on Warren mountain all the way to the Winooski River in Montpelier we will be able to pin point where pollutants are coming from. With the limited agriculture land along the river we hope to find out which fields are leaking phosphates and nitrates into the water. Is the waste water treatment plant in Northfield letting out any pollutants? These are questions that we will be able to answer with some very simple tests along different parts of the river.
The second part of our project is to construct a model that demonstrates how pollutants spread into the water ways and what we can do to stop them. This model will be used to help educate high school students and get them interested in the field of Environmental Engineering. Based out of fish tank the mock stream will have pollutants, food coloring, added along the way and demonstrate the mixing of the chemicals. Then filters will be used remove these pollutants and freshen the water. The end state is to improve the fish habitat in the Dog River and educate children so that they know how important our water ways are.