Authors

Date

4-28-2010

Document Type

Presentation

School

North Attleborough High School, North Attleborough, Massachusetts

Teacher

Donna Cochrane

Students

Kyle Aptt, Nick Blasetti, Ryan Bowen, Jameson Evans, Julie Fabbo, Zach LaClair, Ashley Martinez, Dan McCracken

Description

The purpose of our study was to make certain that Abbott Run met the standards of a Class A River. We are concerned that the Abbott Run remains a Class A river because it is the source of drinking water for Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Abbott Run is located in the Western section of North Attleborough and is within the Blackstone River Watershed. Rhode Island to the West, and Plainville and North Attleborough to the South border the river. The Watershed section that is in North Attleborough is four square miles in size.

Land use is mostly single-family residential use except for the right of way segment of Interstate 295. Major transportation facilities include Interstate 295 and Route 120. The section of the river that runs through North Attleborough passes through the Chemawa Golf Course, an 18-hole golf course, on its way to Rhode Island.

The river was studied at two different sites on November 4, 2009. The first site was just off Cushman Rd. in North Attleborough, which is downstream from the second site at Camp Shady Pines. In order to make sure the river met the Class A water standards the river was tested for pH, dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, and temperature. We also collected benthic macro-invertebrates at both sites. Our class kept a record of precipitation for seven days preceding the study, and depth and flow was also determined.

The values for pH at both sites were within the Class A water standards. In the past, there had been a very basic spike because of a new bridge near site B. This lasted for two years and now has returned to normal.

The Major Group Biotic Index (MGBI) has changed according to our study. Site A’s MGBI changed from 3.1 (Excellent) last year to 3.76 (Very Good) according to the Hilsenhoff Biotic Index.

Site B’s MGBI had a large change from 3.8 (Very Good) to 5.2 (Fair). This means that Site B had more bugs that are tolerant to pollution.

—Kyle Aptt

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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