Pages of Contents
Research Methodology
Research Design
This study employedexperimental method using random systematic sampling design. A simple random sampling design involves random selection where every subset has an equal probability of being chosen(Onyeka, 2010). This design best fits this study since the researcher only looked at one parameter that is the physical and chemical characteristics of the Pantal River water.
The study employed one treatment in all of the sampling site. There is a total of five sampling site where the sample water was gathered. All waters obtained from the river was subjected to water analysis to identify its pH, Temperature, Water Salinity, Turbidity, and Total Hardness of the water were among the parameters which were checked for its physical property, while the concentration of Ammonia, Nitrate and Phosphate were among the parameters which was determined its chemical properties. All result were then compared to the World Health Organization, Indian Council Medical Research standards, where this standards were the standard used by Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Sources of Data
Locale of the study
Water was collected from Pantal River in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. The researcher started to collect river water from the lower camp of Dagupanbridge and ended at the middle portion of the river which is at back of Lyceum – Northwestern University General High-school.
Materials and Reagents
Materials such as sterile bottles, Global Positioning System (GPS), pipette, test tube, pH meter, Conductivity Temperature Depth machine (CTD), spectrophotometer, Horiba, suction and suction clamps. Reagents such as Ammonium Molybdate, Antimonyl Potassium Tartrate, PotassiumDihydrogen Phosphate all other reagent used in determining the chemical parameters was all obtained from the Limnology Laboratory of BFAR BonuanBinloc.
Instrumentation and Data Collection
Preparation of the Water Sample Containers
Five 1 litre of empty transparent plastic bottles are collected and the researchers ensured that the size was enough to collect the required amount of water to do the analysis. The collected bottles were washed with detergent powder thoroughly after which they were sterilized using ethanol and was dried.
Collection of Water Samples
The procedure of water collection was adopted from the study of Chindo,Y (2013) with minor revisions. The clean water bottles were brought the sampling sites. All bottles was prewashed with the water from the Pantal river to ensure that the sampling bottles only contain water from the river under-study. After collecting water samples, the bottles were labeled with the site of collection and were sealed with aluminiumfoil, kept inside a big dark box and were transferred to the Limnology Laboratory at the Bureau of Fishery and Agriculture (BFAR at Bonuan, Binloc) for wateranalyzes.
Marking of Location/ Mapping
The mouth of the Pantal River at Pantal neat the Pantal Bridge where the Pantalriver mixes with Calmay River was selected as the first location and other stations were selected 100 m away from the previous stations. GPS is the Global Positioning System is a satellite based radio-navigation system helped to mark the stations where the water samples were collected.
Determination of the Physicochemical Characteristics
Temperature, pH, Salinity, Dissolved Oxygen and Turbidity
The physical properties of the water such as the Temperature, pH, Salinity, DO and Turbidity were determined using CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth machine) to measure and analyse the water sample. The instrument was submerged into the water in each of the sampling site. The readings in each of the sampling site were then transferred digitally to a computer.
