Project WISE - Fall, 1999

Investigation of Ground and Surface Water

What physical and chemical relationships exist between bodies of surface and ground water?

An introductory activity during a refreshment break: What is the pH of root beer?

Leader: Glenn Richard - Glenn.Richard@sunysb.edu

Teacher: Linda Padwa

Student Participants

Background Information

The water table is the level below which the ground is full of water. Ground water is underground water where all the pores in the soil are filled. For example, when you dig a hole at the beach, you hit water very fast. When the ground water reaches the surface it may be expressed as a body of water (a pond or a stream).

A refractometer measures salinity of a substance by refracting the light through the substance and measuring the amount of light that is bent by the salt particles. it looks like a little tube with a slanted end. You look through the end with the eyepiece, to see the amount of salinity. A lysimeter is a siphon.

Darcy's Law states that the rate of flow is proportional to the length of the flow path. pH is the amount of acid or base in a substance on a scale from one to fourteen.

Objective

Our objective was to relate Roth Pond, and the Stream on campus to the ground water(a well), and determine if they were ground water using Darcy's law, and chemical analysis.   If indeed both of these bodies of water are ground water, they share a common property, therefore connecting them.

Methods

We investigated ground and surface water by using a variety of methods. Before doing any field work, our group learned about the bodies of water and how they are connected, the physical and chemical relationships between surface and ground waters, Long Island's hydrology, Darcy's law, and the Aquifer model. The Aquifer model was very important because it showed us how the correlation between the movement of water in different materials and in different bodies of water.

Our first investigation in the field was visiting a well on the Stonybrook campus and finding out the height of the water table. We used a tape measure and a bailer, which is used to collect a sample of the water in the well, to help us find the depth and then we calculated our measurements. The next visit we took was to Nissequogue beach where we took a sample of water from the sound, figured out the temperature and  created wells by digging holes in the sand at different distances away from the shore. Then we used the Jacob's stick, which showed us the elevation and sampled water with lysimeters, which let us get samples of water from each different hole. Using the sample we took the temperature, used a refractometer to figure out the salinity and  a ruler to measure the depth to the water in each hole.then we used the data to further analyze the surface and ground water we tested.

Our next visit we sampled water and performed chemical analyses on campus at Roth pond, a well, and a stream at Stonybrook. At the pond we used a bailer again to get a sample of water, pH paper, a thermometer, and a comparator that contained ampoules that let us figure out the dissolved oxygen content of the water. At the stream we used the same instruments as the pond and then at the well we also used a tape measure to figure out the depth of the well. Using all our data we were able to review the contents of the different locations of water and gain a better concept of the ground and surface water on Long Island.

The Aquifer Model

Stony Brook Campus Map

Nissequogue Beach Vicinity

Nissequogue Beach Data

Stony Brook Campus Data

Conclusion

Darcy's Law indicates that if the pond and the stream were connected to the well via groundwater, the flow rate into the ground would be so high that a few days without rain would lead to the drying up of these surface bodies of water.  In addition, the elevations of these two bodies of surface water are much higher than that of the water table.  If the pond and stream were, in fact, surface expressions of the groundwater, the water table would need to have unusually high relief.  Therefore, it is most likely that the pond and stream are not surface expressions of the groundwater.

Measuring a Transect

Marking a Station

Digging a Water Sampling Hole

More Digging

Measuring Depth to Water

A Lysimeter for Collecting Water from a Sampling Hole

Measuring Salinity

Preparing to Measure Salinity

Collecting Water from a Sampling Hole

What is the pH of Coke?

Measuring Total Dissolved Solids

pH Paper

Measuring Temperature at Roth Pond

Measuring Dissolved Oxygen at Roth Pond

Measuring pH at Roth Pond

Measuring Total Dissolved Solids at Roth Pond

At the Stream

At the Well

The Stream

The Well