Date
5-6-2005
Document Type
Presentation
School
Brockton High School, Brockton, Massachusetts
Teacher
Suzanne Yoest and Eleri Merrikin
Students
Ryan Lake, Roosevelt Lewis, Robert Corr, Elizabeth Caledonia, Caitlin Wagner
Description
This was a study of two sites along West Meadow Brook, located on the campus of Brockton High School. The river has been monitored by groups at BHS over the past four years and is known to be polluted. The purpose of the study completed this year was to continue monitoring the quality of the river and how it is being affected by its surroundings. The river is flanked by playing fields, including Marciano Stadium and Campanelli Stadium, on one side, and Brockton High’s main campus and parking lots on the other side. The maintenance of these playing fields, as well as nearby Thorny Lea Golf Course, and general runoff from Brockton High’s campus are thought to impact the health of the river. Based on the results of the study, it was determined that the river experiences increased nitrate levels in the spring, probably due to the increased amounts of fertilizer used on both the playing fields and the golf course. An abundance of macroinvertebrates in the order trichoptera, as well as leeches and midges indicated moderate to severe impairment of the river. It is suspected that a combination of the fertilizer as well as runoff from Brockton High’s campus, including gas and oil from the parking lot and cleaning products from the school, have contributed to the overall impairment of West Meadow Brook.
Recommended Citation
Brockton High School, Brockton, Massachusetts (2005). How Polluted is West Meadow Brook?. In Watershed Access Lab Projects. Project 28.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/wal_projects/28
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.