Monitoring the water quality of Strawberry Creek, CA: comparative study on different sites to address health issues

Strawberry Creek runs through the University of California, Berkeley and in the past, it was degraded due to urban and campus development. This project looked at changes in water quality starting from the upper North Fork, through the Berkeley campus, and into western Berkeley. From November 2004 to February 2005, measurements of pH, conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, nitrate, chlorine, and E. coli were taken at four location along Strawberry Creek to determine the effects of precipitation and location of each site. In this research, parameter such as nitrate, turbidity, and E. coli were also used to address human health concerns. The pH was unaffected by precipitation and sites. Turbidity levels at all sites exceeded the EPA standard on both rainy and non-rainy days. On non-rainy days Nitrate levels at most sites were below the EPA standard. The data showed that there were a correlation between turbidity and nitrate. Nitrate levels were highly correlated with dissolved oxygen. There were higher levels of E. coli on rainy days than on non-rainy days. E. coli levels starting at Site 2 showed an increasing trend downstream on non-rainy days. Chlorine Total remained in a steady range on both rainy and non-rainy days, but higher levels at Site 3 due to pipe leakage of drinking water. Most parameters were affected by precipitation and significantly differ in most sites, which resulted in certain areas being more polluted and more unsafe for human usage.