Analyzing Water Quality Data for the Department of Environmental Quality

I contacted the local Department of Environmental Quality in September and asked if there were any projects that I could assist with regarding the Holston River Watershed. After speaking with Michael Hutchison a few times, he found a project analyzing many years' worth of data collected from six stations in the North, Middle, and South Fork Rivers. Due to the workload of DEQ staff, this larger project was put aside for many years. Due to the seasons, I’m thankful that a project was found that could be accomplished as the weather turned colder. Over the course of the semester, I have been creating graphs to show the changes in nutrients and suspended solids, some of which go back to the 1990s.    

Rather than including all of the graphs (there are nearly 100), I have decided to focus on three parameters: total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total TDS. These three parameters give a solid overview of the water quality in each river. While this project was tedious at times, I really enjoyed working with the DEQ and learning about water quality changes over time. It was interesting to see massive swings in multiple parameters during a certain year (2014 stuck out to me a few times).  

A primary goal for Martha is to look at these changes and see if they correlate with some of the agricultural best management practices that were in place in the past, but many of the programs are no longer active. Hopefully these analyses can help push for more cost share programs for farmers, especially since there is so much agricultural land in the Holston River Watershed. 

I am very thankful to the DEQ and their staff for their willingness to work with me, and for all of the work they do to protect the environment in southwest Virginia. 


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