2009 Shell Creek

Watershed Study

Advisors – Mark Seier & Suzy Goedeken

Researchers –Katie O’Brien, Olivia Wiese, Jonathon

Dohmen, Jake Kaufman, Mark O’Brien, April Ramaekers,

Aubrey Strong, Audrey Wondercheck, Greg Roberg, Lila

Wondercheck, Kendra Nelson, Ciera Afrank, Alisha

Dunlap, Joan O’Brien

(with Township-Range Labels)

Shell Creek and Loseke-Taylor Creek Watersheds

Lower Platte North Natural Resources District

6

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 6

Site 5

W.Q.I.

• The Water Quality Index was developed by the

National Sanitation Foundation as a standard

system to compare different bodies of water.

• To determine the WQI, a series of nine tests

were performed. These tests were: dissolved

oxygen, fecal coliform, pH, Biological Oxygen

Demand (BOD), temperature, total phosphate,

nitrates, turbidity, and total solids. We also did

a water discharge test which we use to

measure the flow of the creek in cubic feet per

second.

• After the tests are completed, the WQI for each

section of the creek can be computed.

• To formulate the WQI, we first computed Q-

values.

• We multiply this number by a weighting factor,

which provides a measure of the relative

importance of each test to overall water quality.

• The water quality index ranges from zero to 100.

- 0 - 25 is very bad - 25 - 50 is bad - 50 - 70 is medium - 70 - 90 is good- 90 - 100 is excellent

• The bio-indicator tests weren’t part of W.Q.I., but

did give us a water quality rating.

Sample W.Q.I. Curve Chart

Sample W.Q.I. Form

Test Results Q-value

Weighting

Factor Total

DO % sat. 0.17

Fecal Coliform col/100 mL 0.16

pH units 0.11

BOD mg/L 0.11

Temperature change in C 0.1

Total Phosphate mg/L 0.1

Nitrates mg/L 0.1

Turbidity JTU 0.08

Total Solids mg/L 0.07

Overall Water Quality Index

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

May June July August

Inc

he

s2009 Precipitation

Rainfall

6.3

6.6

6.9

7.2

7.5

7.8

8.1

8.4

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

pH

Level

Date

pH

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

-3

-2.5

-2

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

May22 June 23 July 23 August 6

Deg

rees C

elciu

s

Date

Change in Water Temperature

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

The higher the change, the worse the water quality.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

mg

/L

Date

Total Solids

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

The higher the concentration, the worse the water quality.

Fecal Coliform

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

colon

ies/1

00

m

L

Date

Fecal Coliform

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

colon

ies/1

00

m

L

Date

Fecal Coliform

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

In 2006

Site 1- 21,418

Site 5- 17,800

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

Cu

bic feet p

er secon

d

Date

Flow

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

JTU

's

Date

Turbidity

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

Turbidity On July 23, 2009

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

% Sa

tu

ra

tion

Date

Dissolved Oxygen

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

pp

m

Date

5 Day Biological Oxygen Demand

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

The higher the change, the worse the water quality.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

pp

m

Date

Nitrates

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

pp

m

Date

Nitrates

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

May 22 June 23 July 23 August 6

pp

m

Date

Phosphates

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Site 4

Site 5

Site 6

45

50

55

60

65

70

Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 6 Site 5

WQ

IWQI Averages by Site

2003 Averages 2004 Averages 2005 Averages 2006 Averages

2007 Averages 2008 Averages 2009 Averages

Medium

Bad

Good

45

50

55

60

65

70

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

WQ

ITotal WQI Averages by Year

WQI

Good

Bad

Medium

45

50

55

60

65

70

May June July August

WQ

I

Month

WQI Averages by Date

2003 Averages 2004 Averages 2005 Averages

2006 Averages 2007 Averages 2008 Averages

2009 Averages

Bad

Medium

Good

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Total Rainfall Inches

Discharge CFS Nitrates ppm pH

2003 - 2009 Chemical Test Average Comparisons

2003 Averages

2004 Averages

2005 Averages

2006 Averages

2007 Averages

2008 Averages

2009 Averages

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Phosphates ppm B.O.D. ppm Change in Temp. Celcius

2003 - 2009 Chemical Test Average Comparisons

2003 Averages

2004 Averages

2005 Averages

2006 Averages

2007 Averages

2008 Averages

2009 Averages

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

D.O. % Sat. Turbidity JTU Fecal Coliform Colonies/100

mL

Total Solids mg/L

2003 - 2009 Chemical Test Average Comparisons

2003 Averages

2004 Averages

2005 Averages

2006 Averages

2007 Averages

2008 Averages

2009 Averages

*2006 Fecal Coliform

Average 8,058 col/100 mL

Chemical Test Conclusions

• Fecal Coliform is down, but still erratic

• Less Rainfall seems to effect our data

• Site 1 has significantly higher nitrates

• WQI is increasing downstream

• D.O. is still low

• Very high correlation between nitrates

and flow

Macro Invertebrates

Sample Bio-Indicator Data Form

Beaver-Shell Creek

WQI Comparison

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

May-09 Jun-09 Jul-09 Aug-09 Summer

Average

09

Summer

Average

08

WQI

Beaver Creek

Average WQI

Shell Creek

Average WQI

Beaver-Shell Creek Comparison

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

pH Nitrates Phosphates B.O.D

Beaver Creek

Shell Creek

Beaver-Shell Creek Comparison

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Turbidity Fecal

Coliform

Total Solids D.O. % Sat.

Beaver Creek

Shell Creek

Flood Study

Flood Study

Date

and

Time

Width

(ft)

Avg.

Depth

(ft)

Flow

(cfs)

Total

Solids

(mg/L)

Solid

Discharge

(lbs/min)

Solid

Discharge

(tons/hr)

5/30/07 110 8.42 2243 9300 78145 2344

6/8/08 130 8.98 4328 8950 145138 4354

X cu ft 60 sec 28.32 L X mg 1 g 1 lb 1 ton 60 min

1 sec 1 min 1 cu ft 1 L 100 mg 453.6 g 2000 lb 1 hr

Website

• http://www.newman.esu8.org/

• Click “Activities”

• Click “Watershed Project”

• Click “Watershed Homepage”

• You can see our data and further

information concerning this project,

including pictures.

Thank You To:

• David Rus from USGS

• Lower Platte North Natural

Resource District

• PrairieLand RC&D

• Natural Resource Conservation

Service

• Nebraska Department of

Environmental Quality

• Shell Creek Watershed