Introduction to the Course
This 2014-2015 St. Anne's-Belfield Environmental Statistics Senior Seminar Class conducted research and analysis of the health of both the Mechums (some references are misspelled as Meechums, and could not be changed) and Moormans Rivers. Nitrate, ammonia, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD),
turbidity, phosphate, temperature, conductivity and E Coli were all tested and measured at each river site visited. Samples of benthic organisms were taken and recorded as well. One of the main points of focus for this Environmental Statistics course was the James River Spiny Mussel, a freshwater mussel and a federally endangered species native to Virginia and West Virginia. In the future and coming years, the goal of this class is to determine the health of these two rivers and find a river habitable for the James River Spiny Mussel.