Lake Macoupin Water Quality Study

Water quality is becoming more of an issue when dealing with runoff from many different areas. A few of these areas could be parking lots, agricultural fields, runoff from building roofs, and many other sources. I am conducting a research project studying water quality of the Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC) pond in Springfield, Illinois during spring 2021. There will be 12 sampling spots around the pond and two creeks, one that turns into the pond and one that leads towards Lake Springfield. I will be measuring pH values, nitrite, phosphate, and ammonia levels as well. I will be using two Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications to map the values on a map of the pond. I will also be recording season of when the sample was collected, temperature outside, sedimentation presence in the sample, and if the sample came from a point source or nonpoint source.

           Throughout this project, I will be comparing the data collected from each sample date as well as comparing to previous data that I have conducted on one of the sites. The results throughout the span of six sampling dates will show differences in these levels depending on environmental conditions such as rain events. Results will also be affected by human actions including fertilizer application on the LLCC baseball fields, fertilizer application on the nearby LLCC agricultural fields, and increased runoff from the parking lots. This presentation will highlight my research project studying the water quality of the LLCC pond.