Chicago River

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GabrielMorales
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:05 am
Occupation: Student

Chicago River

Post by GabrielMorales »

Hello all!
I have a question relating to my school project. I would like to know some opinions on the pollution in the Chicago River. So, what do you all think about it and do you think the pollution levels will continue to change?

Sincerely,
Gabriel
SciB
Expert
Posts: 2067
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:00 am
Occupation: Retired molecular biologist, university researcher and teacher
Project Question: I wish to join Scibuddies to be able to help students achieve the best science project possible and to understand the science behind it.
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Chicago River

Post by SciB »

Hi Gabriel! Welcome to Scibuddies.

Your question is a bit unusual. I doubt if there are many people who are experts on the pollution levels in the Chicago River! Could you give us a quick outline of the nature of your project and what your hypothesis is? We can help you much better when we know exactly what you are trying to find out.

My recommendation would be to search online for data on levels of various pollutants in the river. Are you interested in a certain kind of pollutant like nitrates or pesticides? There are many different substances that can be considered pollutants in a waterway and you won't be able to find information on all of them.

What is your purpose for wanting to know this? Are you interested in how levels of a certain pollutant change with time or sampling point on the river?

Give us some details on your project and we'll try to help you.

Sybee
GabrielMorales
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:05 am
Occupation: Student

Re: Chicago River

Post by GabrielMorales »

I'm not looking for an exact pollutant, but I do agree that my question is a bit out there. The thing is is that I need to put a research paper together and in the paper we needed to post a question on a site such as this one. The only problem was we needed it to be about a local subject, like pollution in nearby rivers. Any help at all is appreciated.

Sincerely,
Gabriel
SciB
Expert
Posts: 2067
Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:00 am
Occupation: Retired molecular biologist, university researcher and teacher
Project Question: I wish to join Scibuddies to be able to help students achieve the best science project possible and to understand the science behind it.
Project Due Date: n/a
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Chicago River

Post by SciB »

Hi,

I assume that your research paper deals with river pollution. If you could give us the title and a summary of what the paper is about, we could help you better.

That reminds me of a show I saw recently on the History channel about the 'Chicago Flood'. If you live in Chicago you certainly know about it, but for those who might be reading this and not know, here's the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood

Now I don't know whether you could tie this into water pollution but the basements of the businesses that were flooded because of the tunnel breach were certainly subject to whatever pollutants happened to be in the old tunnel and to what was in the river water itself. This was a totally unanticipated and serious emergency. Most pollution problems are long term results of industrial effluents and sewage but the Chicago flood shows that a city must be prepared for many different threats to their rivers.

When is your report due? Good luck!

Sybee
GabrielMorales
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 8:05 am
Occupation: Student

Re: Chicago River

Post by GabrielMorales »

I haven't come up with a title yet but the paper is basically about the history of the Chicago River and how it's pollution has either improved or worsened. The paper is due pretty soon, and I was not able to access the Internet of the weekend so that's a problem.

So once more in case anyone would like to answer: What do you think of the pollution in the Chicago River and do you think it will get better?
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