BioClub takes learning outside

How does run-off affect water quality and biodiversity? Kelly Mikhail’s BioClub students at Worthington Christian High School wanted to find out! Mikhail recently attended the Ohio Corn & Wheat-sponsored Focus on Soil and Water Quality workshop and received supplies to use with her students. First, club officers set up an indoor stream, part of Feed the World’s Water quality unit, for members to identify and test water quality from two different streams.

Then after a lecture on water quality, the club members analyzed water quality testing and completed the biodiversity comparison between the two streams.

Stream 1, Olentangy River at Highbanks Metro Park, Columbus:

  • 10 species collected
  • low Phosphate and Potassium levels with High dissolved Oxygen content

Stream 2, creek supplied by a pond at Loch Lomond Estates, Powell:

  • 2 species collected low Dissolved Oxygen
  • Phosphate and Potassium were either not in range or blocked by all the algae growth

The BioClub discussed how biodiversity can be an indicator of water quality, the results of their testing, and how farmers are working to conserve their fertilizer use. The students clearly saw that the run-off from the affluent neighborhood was very polluted and lacking biodiversity.