Lower Wheeling Creek: Water Quality Investigation

    



      A local water board by Wheeling Creek is concerned about the water quality in its watershed. Two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered by water. Human bodies hold 75% of water, for it is one of the prime elements responsible for life on Earth. Water circulates through the land just as it does through the human body, transporting, dissolving, replenishing, nutrients and organic matter, and carries away waste material. Contrary to the past, our recent developed technological society has become indifferent to this miracle of life. Rivers, seas, oceans, and other bodies of water have been exploited, mistreated, and contaminated.
     The watershed is sometimes referred to as the catchment area, or drainage basin. It is the land over which surface runoff from rain and snow enter into a stream or river, such as Wheeling Creek. Sample sizes of water from the watershed have been taken to compare its quality between one site to another within the watershed. Much damage has been done to the water and problems are arising.
      A cause of the damaged water could have started off with runoff water. The definition of a watershed includes land over which runoff from the surface and rain enters into. Runoff water can easily pollute any body of water because of the different pollutants, chemicals, or wastes it carries to the watershed. Any farm fertilizers or pesticides could also have entered into the watershed.   
     According to the chemical characteristic chart on the lower Wheeling Creek sites, the water has become highly saturated between sites A-E. The amount of dissolved oxygen has also decreased. Biologically, macroinvertebrates have decreased due to the lack of dissolved oxygen. The decrease in dissolved oxygen may have resulted from the fecal matter off a farm, or chemicals from the pesticedes that is carried into the watershed from runoff or a pipe. A physical characteristic is the particle sizes in the watershed decrease as you move from site A to site E. The smaller the particles, the less permeability there is for the water to pass through and now keeps the water saturated with pollutants.
     Acid mine drainage is a problem on Wheeling Creek watershed because of its history of coal mining dating back to approximately 1810. Energy from coal helped in the development of Wheeling's industrial base and the expansion of European settlement west of the Ohio River. Coal mining remains one of West Virginia's most important industries and the basis for energy resources that continue to drive all industry in the Ohio River Valley. Acid mine drainage is water with high concentrations of sulfuric acid draining out of surface or subsurface coal mines. The sulfur-laden water originates from rainwater percolating through numerous fractures in crushed sulfur-rich coal left in the mines that enters the watershed.
     Oxygen is essential for fish, invertebrate, plant, and aerobic bacteria respiration. Dissolved oxygen levels below 3 ppm are stressful to most aquatic organisms. Levels below 2 or 1 ppm will not support fish. Fish growth and activity usually require 5-6 ppm of dissolved oxygen.
      Dissolved oxygen levels on the chemical characteristic chart show all sites at 0.2. That is below 1 ppm and cannot support the macroinverterates living in the watershed. Also, there is not enough oxygen for much plant life because of how saturated the watershed has become. Also, the percent saturation of dissolved oxygen ranges from 107.30-51.40, which is very high for the watershed.

BP Oil Spill

Toxicologist



     A toxicologist works to understand the effects of certain chemicals and other ingredients on humans. They perform controlled experiments and run a variety of tests to learn the results of theses substances. This is a scientific-based position and requires a thorough understanding of disciplines such as biology.    
     Toxicologists run experiments in labs. They may work to determine the effects of foods, cosmetics, or other substances on humans. Their purpose is to understand the potential pollutant factor in any of these substances, so that they can report any danger, or dangers, that they may come across. Often toxicologists run these experiments in animals first, to see the probable effects on humans.
     The role of a toxicologist has become important because the public has become more health conscious. They work to help companies and individuals understand any dangerous effects these substances may have, and toxicologists are looked to as subject-matter experts in their field. Through research and the experiments toxicologists have performed, corporate and government sectors can help in providing safe offerings to the public.

BP Oil Spill

     It has been documented that millions of gallons of toxic dispersants have been sprayed into the Gulf. People have been dropping dead in the Gulf. The Army Times and the Intel Hub reported that the Gulf oil spill is admittedly a department of defense operation. They are accountable for all of these deaths and poisonings that are occuring. Multiple C-130's, military, coast guards, and various types of Evergreen Air aircraft and boats have been used to carry out the spraying operation in and around the region to clean up the oil spills.

    The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster or the Macondo blowout, is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed for three months in 2010. The impact of the spill still continues even after the well was capped. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion. The explosion killed eleven men working on the platform and injured seventeen others. On July 15, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead, after it had released about 4.9 million barrels, or 205.8 million gallons of crude oil. It was estimated that 53,000 barrels per day were escaping from the well just before it was capped. It is believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day and decreasing as the reservoir of hydrocarbons feeding the gusher was gradually depleted. On September 19, the relief well process was successfully completed and the federal government declared the well "effectively dead".

     Reports are circulating of deaths, along with people finding VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds), and other toxins in their bloodstream. Symptoms include dizziness, sore throat, and trouble breathing. These symptoms are caused by chemical exposure. Chemicals such as dispersants, have caused two deaths. These dispersants are being sprayed to rid of the oil. Once they are dispersed, the tiny droplets of oil are more likely to sink or remain suspended in deep water rather than floating to the surface and collecting in a continuous slick. Dispersed oil can spread quickly in three directions instead of two and is more easily dissipated by waves and turbulence that break it up further and help many of its most toxic hydrocarbons evaporate. The dispersed oil can also collect on the seabed, where it becomes food for microscopic organisms at the bottom of the food chain and eventually winds up in shellfish and other organisms. The evaporation process can also concentrate the toxic compounds left behind, particularly oil-derived compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.

     The region's economy has declined. people have lost their medical insurance and now there is even more insurance with financial and toxic problems due to the chemical dispersants.

     Groups such as the Project Gulf Impact and even some law firms are extending a helping hand to the people in need, for these toxic dispersants have been sprayed near beaches, population centers, and boats.

Overview

     The occuring deaths are found to be caused by the dispersants that were sprayed into the Gulf to rid the oil that was spilled in it from the BP industry. The chemicals leaked from the industry and went right into the water from the sea floor oil gusher. The oil has killed much ocean life and is now causing humans to create dispersants to try and get rid of all the toxins in the Gulf when it is only damaging people and animals all the more. 

BP Oil Spill Effect On Wildlife



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVNd6Fa9fg