Group 3 WWFF July 16, 2000
Las Cruces is at a 3300 feet (1100 meters) above sea level. The stream is fed by ground water about 500 meters away from our upstream point where the first data was collected. Once the data was collected, the second point source was tested down lower near the town where a meat processing plant is nearby and also a coffee plant. A special note should be made that it was a Sunday afternoon (Domingo) and that it is the wet season. It is also the coffee drying time at the coffee plant. The two businesses were most likely not producing waste that would be entering the stream on a Sunday afternoon. One further note is that it had rained in the early morning hours before we did the testing.
From the perspective of the Group 3 data collected, the stream appeared to not be contaminated with pollutants. Previous data from June 1-3, 1998 was reviewed with some perplexing numbers that were higher in alkalinity and hardness, yet after reading the literature, we extrapolated reasons that this could happen. In the literature, it is reported that the dry season affects the alkalinity and hardness due to the amount of ground water feeding into the stream with less rainwater. The ground water will be influenced by volcanic sources which have the higher concentrations to create the higher alkaline levels and hardness.
The tests show that Rio Java at these two particular points where healthy environments, much below the norms reported in the LaMotte Pollution Test Kit. Our concern is that such a kit provides protocols and assays for testing pollution yet leave out serious tests to assess water quality such as the dissolved oxygen test.