2003 Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair

The abstract below was written by the students. The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District made no editorial changes.

Abstract

This project studied the water quality using chemical analysis of four creeks in the Accotink Watershed. The hypothesis that if water chemistry analysis is used over time to measure water quality then the results will correlate with biological assessment of water quality, thereby confirming both methods as accurate measures of water quality was found to be incorrect.

A total of 20 water samples were taken from four different sites, and tested for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), electro-conductivity, and nitrates. These four chemical tests were chosen because they are extensively used and considered good indicators of water quality. The results were compared to data collected in 1998 by another Woodson student and 1999 by Fairfax County. The data collected in 1999 was both chemical and biological assessment of water quality provided by the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES). It was concluded that chemical analysis does not correlate with biological assessment and also the results of the water chemistry data showed slight change from 1998 to 2002.