Upon reaching our last few tests sites, we decided that it would be a good test to gather results from the Dog River where it flows into the Winooski. While we did not measure the actually junction of the two rivers, we did measure the Dog River right before the Winooski to gauge the cleanliness of the Dog River as it flows into the Winooski. At the lat test sight, we noted that there was a road bridge just a few yards before the actual merge of the two rivers. For a comparison, we decided to take a test 100 yards before the bridge and then directly under the bridge to see of there was any pollutants the bridge added to the Dog.
Our first test from the Dog River was to speculate on how clean or dirty the water was before the possibility of human pollutants were added. This test can viewed as 'zeroing' our data to get a base level reading on how the river is performing. Not surprisingly, this sample produced results much similar to those samples taken before. Turbidity, Deoxygenation, pH, Nitrate, and Phosphate levels all came back positive suggesting that the river is substantially clean up to that point.
After gathering data up until the bridge at the junction of the Winooski River, we had a decent idea on how clean the water should be before merging. We were predicting that some of the levels recorded before would spike or drop due to pollutants form the bridge above the river. Surprisingly enough, after taking the last sample, the results showed that the there were no added pollutants into the water and the that the Dog maintained a clean river status. While we did not test the actually junction of the Winooski and Dog river, we gained assurance that the water from the Dog that entered the mixture of the rivers was as clean as it can be.
Why is this all important? Tracking these different levels helps evaluate the ecosystem of the river and assure that it remains healthy. Since Hurricane Irene in 2011, the Dog River lost a large amount of native trout as well as a sustainable water system. Over the past 7 years, the river has slowly grown back to the level it once was. Monitoring the river at different locations helps gauge what is being mixed into the water and how we can maintain a clean and healthy river.