Whether you tripped over your own two feet and slid head first into the gym bleachers or were cutting a peach in half and the knife slipped, most people have taken a prescription of some type during their lifetime. Prescription drugs serve a purpose and can help an ill or injured body heal.

What do you do with your leftover prescriptions? Maybe you have some pills from one prescription left and the doctor decides to try a different protocol. Maybe the drugs aren’t working so something stronger is required. This goes against my rule-following grain, but maybe you stop taking the drugs once you start to feel better and don’t finish out the prescription. Do you flush them down the toilet? Do you turn  them in during a drug take back program, or return them to a pharmacy that accepts them for disposal? Do you leave them in the cupboard and every couple of weeks think, “I should really do something with those”?

What you do with leftover prescriptions can have a lot to do with water quality. In 1999 and 2000 U.S. Geological Survey researchers found low levels of a variety of prescription drugs in 80% of the streams they sampled. This could be a problem for the fish and other aquatic life in the streams. It could also be a problem for drinking water.

Researcher Dr. Joanna Wilson at McMaster University’s Department of Biology looks at how prescription drugs in the water impact zebrafish (a small fish in the minnow family). As part of her research, she collected water samples at sewage treatment systems. She wanted to see how the processes they use to treat the waste water (this would be anything that goes down you a drain or gets flushed down a toilet) coming in were treating prescription drugs. At the plants she sampled, she found the “normal” sewage treatment process removed about 95% of the prescription drug material from the sewage waste.

So, check your cupboards and use the links below to find more information on how to dispose of prescriptions properly. If you’re in PA, the Pennsylvania State Police will be holding their annual drug take back in September. You can find more information about locations by visiting the PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs website.

August is water quality month, and August 22 is National Honey Bee Day. There are just so many things to celebrate and explore!

Diatoms are a great thing to explore. They’re microscopic algae. Some diatoms are suspended in the water, while others attach to the rocks and debris on the bottom of the stream. The types of diatoms found in a water body are based on the temperature and pH of the water as well as how fast the water is flowing, how much shade is along the body of water, and a lot of other water quality factors. Some scientists feel diatoms are one of the best ways to understand the water quality of a stream since the diatoms are “glued” in place.

Dr. Jack Holt is a biologist at Susquehanna University. He’s been studying diatoms in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries for many years now. Thank you Dr. Holt for sharing this great photo of some of the diatoms you found this summer.

NPC has been giving you a lot of information about different ways to look at water quality. Up to this point, we’ve emphasized that you can’t tell the quality of water, just by looking at it. Well, as with most rules there’s an exception.

Macroinvertebrates are the insects, crustaceans, molluscs, arachnids and annelids you find in flowing water. These animals don’t have a backbone (invertebrates) and are big enough (macro) you can see them with just your eyes.

The species of macroinvertebrates you find gives you information on the water quality. Some species need more oxygen, while others are more tolerant of different types of pollution.

One method to collected macroinvertebrates is to shuffle your feet and kick around in a stream for a specific period of time over a specific distance and collect all the materials that is “released” by the kicking. Most protocols, or procedures, specify the size and type of net to use. Often, it’s a D-Frame Kick Net

I won’t even try to make a connection between honey bees and water quality. We’ll just celebrate national honey bee day. Honey bees were brought to North America by European colonists. The honey bees provided wax for candles, honey for food, and pollination (although the colonists probably didn’t realize this). Over the last several years honey bee populations have dramatically decreased. Scientists and agricultural experts are encouraging homeowners and landowners to plant pollinator friendly flowers to help honey bee populations have many food sources.

Here’s a great website by National Geographic on honey bees!

There are a lot of different measures of water quality. Last week we shared information on three and this week we’re going to share three more parameters. If you’re interested in learning more, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has a great website called “Water Science School.”

So, here’s more information about dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and coliform…..

Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen is the oxygen available in the water for the aquatic organisms to breathe. Oxygen is diffused into the water from air, by fast moving waters, and as a byproduct of photosynthesis. The more

the water moves, the higher the oxygen level will be.

Also, the cooler the water is, the more oxygen it can hold. Trees, plants, and shrubs along a stream bank provide shade to the stream. This helps the water stay cooler, which means it can hold more dissolved oxygen.

Although good oxygen levels are often challenging to pinpoint since oxygen levels fluctuate naturally between day and night, generally good oxygen levels fall around 7 mg/L or higher.

If oxygen levels remain below 1 or 2 milligrams per liter of water for just a few hours, many fish can die.

Nutrients – Nitrogen and Phosphorus
Nitrogen is found naturally in the environment and is an essential nutrient to plant life. Nitrate is the most significant form of Nitrogen in terms of water quality. Nitrates are used in fertilizers for lawns and agricultural crops. Additionally, nitrates can be found in municipal and animal wastes.

High concentrations of nitrates cause an increase in water plants, algae, and planktons. The more plants there are in the water, the more oxygen they’ll consume as they grow. This can lead to oxygen depletion.

Generally, healthy nitrogen levels should be around 0.5 milligrams per liter of water (0.5 mg/L) or less.

Phosphorus, like nitrogen, is a nutrient naturally present in the environment. But when found in high concentrations, phosphorus can disrupt the natural ecosystem by increasing the growth of algae, water plants, and plankton which provide food for fish. Again, the more plants there are in the water, the more oxygen they’ll consume as they grow. This can lead to oxygen depletion.

Some sources of high phosphorus concentrations include detergents and municipal fertilizer run-off. For human beings, consuming too much phosphorus can lead to digestive problems.

Healthy phosphorus levels generally fall below 0.05 mg/L.

When there is an excess of these nutrients in the water, a condition known as “eutrophication” occurs. Eutrophication means that there is an increase in chemical nutrients to a degree which is unhealthy for the body of water. When an excess of nutrients enters the waterway, algae, aquatic plants, and plankton will grow wildly. The plants will then choke up the waterway and use up large amounts of oxygen. This rapid growth of aquatic plants will eventually die and, with its decay, uses up more oxygen—ultimately lowering dissolved oxygen levels in the water.

Coliform Bacteria
Coliform bacteria are present in the digestive tracts and, consequently, fecal matter of all animals, including humans. Coliforms appear naturally in low amounts in low-flowing water. High concentrations, however, are often signs of municipal wastewater, dumping or septic contamination.

Coliform bacteria are organisms. They can carry waterborne diseases or viruses, being a potential health risk for human beings.

For primary contact with the water (i.e. swimming) the coliform concentration cannot exceed 200 coliforms per 100 milliliters (ml) and primary drinking water must report 0 coliforms per 100 ml. Natural contamination usually lies under the 200 coliforms per 100 ml level but if it is over this level there is a much greater chance that pathogenic (disease causing) organisms are present.

This summer several public swimming areas had to be closed due to high coliform bacteria levels. The managers of those areas continued to monitor the coliform levels and followed the protocols for when and how to re-open the swimming areas.

August is Water Quality Month! Water quality is a measure of the water’s condition compared to a biological, chemical, physical, or radiological standard. It’s important to remember that we can’t just look at water and know what its quality is by its appearance. Many things that are considered pollutants can’t be seen with just our eyes.

Water quality can vary from day to day and even throughout a day. Scientists at Bloomsburg University are doing research this summer that is looking at how water quality changes over 24 hours. They’re spending a lot of time in a local stream, collecting samples. Sunlight causes certain chemical processes to be active. When it is dark out and these processes aren’t active, certain water quality parameters might change.

Rivers and streams (which is where a lot of water can be found in PA) are constantly changing ecosystems that are challenging to represent on paper. Conditions, such as where samples are taken across the width of the river, can often affect the outcome of a water sample. Additionally, streams are affected by everything going on around them, agricultural practices, abandoned mine drainage (AMD), sediment flows, or even high rainfall, streams are highly sensitive to all sorts of events.

Here are three parameters used to measure water quality…

Conductivity
Conductivity is the water’s measured ability to pass an electrical current. It is affected by the quantity of total dissolved solids (TDS), often dissolved chemicals or salts, in the water.

Conductivity is measured in micromhos per centimeter (μmhos/cm) or microSiemens per centimeter (μS/cm). A healthy conductivity rate for inland streams and rivers falls around 500 μS/cm or less.

If test results show a change in conductivity that may mean there has been a change in the amount of TDS in the water. Many sources of TDS are natural; however, municipal run-off and wastewaters can increase the amount of TDS beyond healthy levels.

pH
Although pH measures acidity in the water, it also indicates a waterway’s balancing act between acidic and basic, or between positive and negative hydrogen ions. The pH scale runs from 0 (strongly acidic, high concentration of positive hydrogen ions) to 14 (strongly basic, high concentration of negative hydrogen ions).

Despite the negative connotation of the word “acidic,” a waterway wants to strike a balance between having too many or too little positive hydrogen ions. In fact, ideal pH generally falls between six and eight in an aquatic environment.

If the pH is too far at either end of the spectrum, fish will avoid the waterway or die, eggs can become deformed, algae cannot grow as well, etc.

pH can be affected by many different sources including contaminated run-off and AMD. The pH can differ dramatically from day to day, or even at different times throughout the same day, largely as a result of photosynthesis.

Alkalinity
Alkalinity is the water’s ability to resist changes in pH. This is a natural phenomenon, but often with the addition of pollutants, water systems are less capable of balancing the pH and keeping waterways healthy. Since alkalinity can create a sort of buffer against various forms of acidic pollution, the higher the alkalinity the more resistant the stream might be to external influences like acid rain. Many rocks, especially limestone, are sources of natural alkalinity. If water can neutralize acids, the buffering capacity of alkalinity would give stability to the pH of a waterway necessary for fish, plant life, and other organisms to live. Affective alkalinity levels usually begin around 20 mg/L and higher.

July 15 is Cow Appreciation Day! These cows we appreciate all the more because there is a fence between them and the stream running thru their pasture. Cows do a lot of great things, and should be appreciated, but they can also damage stream banks, causing the banks to fall-in or wash away. So today, appreciate a cow, and the fence keeping them in their pasture.