For the action project, our group plans on helping solve the problem of pollution in the Grand River. We plan to do this by raising awareness of all the major pollution problems affecting the river. This will help the community know what harmful activities they are doing to the river, and what they could do differently to prevent said activities. Awareness and community involvement is the best solution because "many hands make light a task".
In our biobottle lab, we will be testing on how excess amounts of phosphates in the form of fertilizer or cleaning solutions affect water, plant, and maybe animal life. We will be observing how phosphates react to a water type environment. Things we might be looking for may include ph level, temperature, and even plant health.
The river test we were assigned was to test for phosphate level in the water, and our action project is on water pollution. These two things are connected because too much phosphate in water is considered pollution. Phosphates, in moderate amounts, is healthy for water and improves the quality. When phosphates enter water in an excessive amount, then there is a problem. Excess phosphates increase the amount of algae, which takes oxygen from the water. With little oxygen, any animal life in the water slowly dies off. This process is called Eutrophication, the aging process of water. Humans are to blame for the excessive amounts of phosphates by fertilizer run off and the dumping of phosphate-rich chemicals into the water. Our action project is to stop the Grand River from going through this process before its time.
http://www.water-research.net/Watershed/phosphates.htm
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