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Ideas for Science Fair Projects
on Surface Water Quality Topics
for Middle School Students and Teachers
EPA 820-F-08-001
www.epa.gov/waterscience/students
May 2008
Why Choose a Science Fair Project on
Surface Water Quality?
Surface water quality projects address real-life water issues
occurring in streams, rivers, lakes and other types of surface
waters across the United States.
• More than 40 percent of the waterways that are tested
in the United States do not meet their water quality
standards—the minimum requirements for healthy waters.
• The majority of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of
a polluted waterway.
Your science fair project will help bring attention to surface
water quality problems and could develop solutions!
Need Information on Your Watershed?
Find the name of your watershed and nearby waterways at
EPA's Surf Your Watershed \Neb site (www.epa.gov/surf).
Be sure to visit the Citizen-based groups at work in this
watershed link. The Web sites of these groups could provide
water monitoring data and other information that may be
helpful for your project.
Information on runoff issues in your community, surface
water problems in your watershed, and current water
monitoring efforts can be obtained by calling or visiting the
Web site of your local Stormwater Division or Department
of Public Works. Before calling, work with your teacher or
parent to think of questions you can ask the water profes-
sionals that will help you develop a focused project.
Need Background
Information on Water
Monitoring?
EPA's What's Up With Our
Nation's Waters? provides
background information on
water quality monitoring
for students
(www.epa.gov/owow/
monitoring/nationswaters/
waters2.pdf).
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The Effect of Stream Health on
Macroinvertebrate Diversity
Background: Small organisms called
macro!nvertebrates live in freshwater
streams. They do not have backbones,
can be seen with the naked eye and
are an important part of
The stonefly must have
the stream food web. good water quali1y
Some macroinvertebrates
can live only in very good water qual-
ity, while others can live in waterways with fair or poor water
quality. Therefore, the macroinvertebrate populations you
find will indicate good, fair or poor water quality for the
waterway. Macroinvertebrate pictures and information can
be found at www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/invertebrate.html.
To learn more about macroinvertebrate stream habitats, visit
www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/rbp/wp61pdf/ch_05.pdf. Pay
particular attention to the pictures and descriptions of poor
and good quality stream habitats on pages 13 and 14.
Topic A: Select a local waterway and compare the diversity
of macroinvertebrates that live downstream from different
land uses (for example: residential homes, athletic fields,
roads, malls). Is there a connection between the land use
and the types of macroinvertebrates found?
Topic B: In areas that experience dangerous driving condi-
tions due to snow and ice, sand is often applied to the
roadways. After the snow and ice are gone, the sand is often
washed into a storm drain (a pipe that carries water from
the streets to a local stream or to a treatment plant). If the
storm drain empties directly into a stream, the sand fills in
spaces between rocks on the bottom of the stream. This is
a problem because many species of macroinvertebrates use
the inter-rock spaces for their habitat. Consult a map of your
local watershed, streets and stormwater outfalls and hypoth-
esize where the most sand would accumulate in your stream.
Does your data show different macroinvertebrate populations
in areas where the stream bottom is sandy versus rocky?
The Effect of First Flush on Water Quality
Background: The initial runoff during a rain event flows
over the ground and often carries more pollutants with it
than runoff that occurs later in the storm. This first flush
can be thought of as the
first cleansing of the ground.
Examples of pollutants that
might be washed away in
the first flush include excess
fertilizers, oil, soaps that have
dried on the ground following
a car wash, and pet waste.
Topic A: To learn if your
locality already has a method
for testing the first
Low
Stream
Runoff
"Rain runs off of the street and
flush, contact your down the storm drain.
town or county Stormwater Division or Department of Public
Works. Is there a way to combine your project with what
they have implemented or to use their data?
Topic B: Install collection containers to collect a sample of
the first flush from stormwater outfalls in several stream
locations. Following a rain event, compare water samples
for one water quality parameter (for example: ammonia, pH,
phosphate). Are there differences in the concentration of
the pollutant across the samples? If so, do the amounts cor-
relate with the various land uses?
The Effect of Buffers on Water Quality and Algae
Background: When water washes over surfaces in a
watershed (for example: roads, lawns, forested areas), it
carries pollutants with it. The water and pollutants will flow
directly into a waterway
or percolate through the
ground (see graphic).
Buffers are vegetated
areas adjacent to
streams and rivers;
a lawn does not
constitute a buffer. The
combination of trees,
shrubs and grasses in buffers do the following:
• Stabilize the streambank and reduce streambank erosion
• Reduce the amount of sediment and other pollutants
entering the stream
• Improve aquatic habitat
Topic A: Select a local waterway that has several different
types of buffers or areas that lack buffers. Compare
the width or plant composition of the buffers. In your
hypothesis, will more algae be found growing in the water
downstream of a particular type of buffer or buffer width?
Topic B: What happens when water percolates through the
ground? Assemble several containers of equal size that will
allow water to be collected after it percolates through a
substrate. Fill the containers with equal amounts of different
substrates—soil, sand, rock, a combination of the three, liv-
ing plants in soil, and so on. Do not forget to include a control
container! Add equal amounts of the same fertilizer to each
container and test the water that is collected after it flows
through the container. Were the recorded levels of nitrogen
and phosphorus different amongst the containers? Was more
water collected from one container than from another? How
does this information affect your thoughts on stream buffers?
Cleaners and Their Effect on Water Quality
Background: Soaps and cleaners that wash into storm
drains and waterways affect the chemistry of the water.
Topic: Test the pH of different cleaners and determine
which will have the greatest effect on the water quality.
Hypothesize which cleaners will have the greatest effect on
pH. Should these cleaners be used at all?
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