Title
Date
5-3-2006
Document Type
Presentation
School
North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts
Teacher
Donna Cochrane
Students
Sadhana Yoder, Anthony Patjane, Lauren Roche, Sam Mathieson, Josh MacDonald, Kevin O’Brien, Jordan Pickering
Description
During the past year, we have studied, in detail, Abbot Run. The purpose of our study was to ensure that the river met the Massachusetts water quality standards of a Class A river. The Abbott Run is a Class A river because it is the source of the drinking water for Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Abbott Run is a part of the Blackstone River Watershed, which is located in Massachusetts and continues into parts of Rhode Island. The river runs through North Attleboro and passes through Chemawa Golf Course, an 18-hole course.
The river was studied at two different sites about a half-mile from each other on October 31, 2005. The first site was just off Cushman Road, downstream from the second site at Hunts Bridge Road. The river passed through the golf course before the second site.
To make sure that Abbott Run met the Massachusetts Class A water standards, the river was tested for pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates, specific conductivity, and temperature. We also collected benthic macro-invertebrates at both sites.
Our classes kept a record of the amount of precipitation in the week preceding our study of the river. The precipitation was extremely high at that time. The levels reached 1.9 inches during that week alone. This could have had an impact on portions of our study.
The values for nearly everything that we tested were similar at both sites. The only exception was the load values, which were higher at the first site, Cushman Road. The number of net-spinning caddisflies was higher here as was the specific conductivity. This was probably due to runoff from the golf course between the two sites. All of the values for the river at both of the tested sites were well within the Massachusetts water quality standards for a Class A river.
Written by Samantha Mathieson
Environmental Science, 2006
Recommended Citation
North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts (2006). Abbott Run River Study. In Watershed Access Lab Projects. Project 45.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/wal_projects/45
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.