INVESTIGATING WATER QUALITY WITH RESPECT TO ALTITUDE OF LAKES AROUND THE NORTHERN ROCKLAND COUNTY IN NEW YORK

Water is essential to the survival of all living organisms, and protecting this valuable resource is vitally important. Water quality is a measure of the conditions of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species. Knowing water’s physical, chemical and biological characteristics allow experts to determine whether it is suitable for aquatic life or human consumption. This study attempted to examine the relations of water quality parameters with lake altitudes. Ten lakes were chosen to evaluate their water quality with essential parameters such as ORP, total hardness, pH change, total alkalinity change, dissolved carbonate concentration and dissolved copper concentration. The ten lakes were located within 30 miles diameter, and altitudes were well distributed. Our conclusion suggests that the heavy metals and compounds such as lead, fluoride, iron, mercury, nitrate, nitrite, chromium, bromine, chlorine and sulfate were undetectable with the kits used in this research. The change of ORP, total hardness, pH, total alkalinity and dissolved copper concentration had weak correlation on linear regression analysis (R2 <0.4352), while the change of carbonate concentration was highly correlated with the increase of altitude (R2 0.8814). There could exist a subtle relationship among parameters other than those of water quality, such as the resident population near the water sources.