| Do the thousands of geese that migrate to and winter at Ransom Canyon
Lake affect the water quality? |
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| A science project by Ronnie Kendall of Ransom Canyon shows that their resulting organic waste in winter does not lower the water quality. | ||
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Abstract
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With water quality being so important to us in West Texas, it is important
to consider the thousands of geese that migrate to and winter at Ransom
Canyon Lake and which may affect the water quality in one of our local lakes.
Therefore, I hypothesize that the migration of geese into the Ransom Canyon
Lake in the winter and their resulting organic waste will lower the water
quality. To test this hypothesis I assembled sample water bottles and coordinated
my work with A&L Laboratory, Lubbock, Texas and at a Texas Tech University
Laboratory. Water samples were collected by me for analysis of the following:
I also counted the geese on multiple days. I got the average daily weather from the National Weather Service. I consulted with Professors Steve Cox and Todd Anderson at Texas Tech University regarding data analysis and environmental chemistry, respectively. With the influx of hundreds to thousands of geese the BOD appeared to increase, however it was quickly reduced with the substantial drop in the daily temperature in early December 03. Other analyses did not reveal any impact on water quality that could be attributed to the geese. Water quality of Lake Ransom Canyon does not appear to be impacted by the geese there during the December '03 and January '04 timeframe, which is generally the highest time of concentration of geese at Ransom Canyon. |