Knowledge Bank

Surrounding ecosystems are affected by anthropogenic land use. Growing development encroaches on pristine environments and can drastically affect the species in that area. The scenic Big Darby Creek is one of Ohio’s most biologically diverse rivers being home to 86 species of fish and 41 species of freshwater mollusks. Recently, there has been increasing development in close proximity to the river as farm land is being purchased and turned into housing developments. Changing uses of land may threaten many of the Darby’s species, some of which are already endangered. Controversy over this issued has communities arguing about the best use of land. Scientific observation has been called in to quantify the effects. Research is currently being conducted to investigate how the environment responds to the invading development.

This study focuses on the chemical changes in the water of the Big Darby Creek and its tributary, the Little Darby Creek. Changes in the geochemistry of the stream water will express the healthiness of the ecosystem while the development continues. As development increases and human activities get closer to the Darby presumably it will affect which is being expelled into the river; contaminants such as salt from the deicing of roads, fertilizers, and other pollutants will affect the ecosystem. For this study water samples were collected biweekly from the Little Darby Creek in West Jefferson and from the Big Darby Creek in Darbydale. The samples were analyzed from major cations and anions (F, Cl, NO3, PO4, SO4, Ca, Mg, NA, K) using Ion Chromatography (IC) methods. Our preliminary results show a decreasing trend in nitrate concentrations in both locations from spring into the fall. We suggest that this is related to the seasonal application of fertilizer in both watersheds. Chloride concentrations show contrasting trends between the two locations. In the Little Darby Creek chloride remained relatively constant through out the year, but in the Big Darby Creek the concentration of chloride increased. The higher chloride concentration may be related to the continual leaching of water-applied road salt from major highways draining into the Creek. To date the study is still on going. When completed, results of this experiment will be discussed in terms of land use in the Big Darby watershed.