James River
By Abbie and Carol Jean
The area past and present
Past
Present
- Population 7,099
- number of households: 2,818
- 50.6% female
- 49.4% male
Land around the river
- 7% agriculture
- 71% forest
- 4% open water
- 3% wetland
Surfaces present
- bridges
- parking lots
- trails
- forest
Elevation
Elevation of towns
Newport News: 20 feet
Claremont: 85 feet
Surrounding areas elevation
Around Jamestown: 92 feet-50 feet
Around Newport News: 40-60 feet
Around Claremont: 85 feet
The effects of land elevation and surounding surfaces on runoff and groundwater
Higher elevation around the river causes the runoff to run into the river, carrying all the pollution it picked up with it.
The result of this is a polluted james river. The james river was given a c- for pollution. The people of the james river area are making efforts to clean the river.
What kind of pollutants affect the river?
The james river currently has a C for its grade on pollution.
How has the quality of the river changed?
Dessolved oxygen: For cool and Warm water the disolved oxygen should not be be any lower than 5ppm. For cold water the disolved oxygen should not be any lower than 6ppm.
PH levels: the PH levels should be 6-9.
Fecal Coliform levels: should not exceed 1,000
Nitrate: The nitrate levels have been exceeded normal levels
Turbidity: rangev10-600 j.c.u
Microinvertebrates:
Brook trout: 45% (no change)
Small mouth bass: 53% (+4% 2-year change)
American shad: 21% (-21% 2-year change)
Oysters: 14% (+3% 2-year change)
Striped Bass: 67% (-9% 2 year change)
How do these changes in the water quality affect the living things the ecosystem?
Citations
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/va/nwis/current/?type=flow
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=akq
http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/getinvolved/sos/Pages/MacroID.aspx
http://www.vcu.edu/rice/pdfs/article-jriver.pdf
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?02035000
http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/Chippokes/1/show.html?MR=1
https://365richmondva.wordpress.com/tag/james-river/
http://www.envisionthejames.org/detail/state-of-the-james-river-pollution/evjc411adaef39c58de8
http://www.listingsinwilliamsburgva.com/US/Neighborhood/VA/James-River-Heights-Demographics.html
https://ssl.trails.com/subscribe.aspx?oc=4687
http://jrava.org/what-we-do/Publications/StateOfTheJames2013.pdf
http://www.jamesriverassociation.org/the-james-river/state-of-the-james/
http://www.vcu.edu/rice/pdfs/article-jriver.pdf