The radish farmers of Aire County found themselves in a major uproar.

At the mid-summer meeting of the Aire County Radish Growers' Association, the farmers found themselves in a major uproar. For some of them this gathering marked a total disaster--their radish crops had failed to come up, or were so stunted that they weren't even worth harvesting. This was an especially bitter blow, since Aire County provides almost 98% of all of the radishes grown in the Western Hemisphere. The farmers held a meeting to discuss the problem. They had to come up with a plan to discover the cause of the crop failures in time to prevent a repetition that would destroy their businesses completely.

"It's got to be that hideous, smelly land-fill they just put up the river from my place!" claimed Rocky of "Rocky's Radish Ranch" He was referring to the Two-Can Landfill that a private company had put on some land along the shore of Bodywaddle Creek in early winter of the past year. His crop barely showed green above the rich dark soil of his fields.

"I'll just bet it's that power plant!" Shouted Roger, owner of "Roger's Radishes", tugging at his long, gray beard. "I've been telling folks and telling folks for years that place would be no good for us!" Interestingly, Roger's radish crop, while slightly damaged, was the best of the lot.

"And I am thoroughly convinced that the problem is precipitated by that ugly dome-building they put up to store that chemical stuff they put on the roads every winter! We could surely do without such an eye-sore, and I am prepared to swear that that stuff has killed my poor baby radishes!" And Rosie burst into noisy tears at the thought of her spoiled crop. Barely a seed had germinated in her ruined fields. The salt-storage dome was also a recent addition to the countryside of Aire County, having been erected late in the previous fall.

"It's not like we used any different methods from each other! We all use the same irrigation system, none of us changed any chemicals, or did anything different from each other or from past years," emphasized Rocky, the president of the Association.

Further conversation among the farmers indicated that none of them had moved their irrigation pipes, which were located in the very-deep Reuter River. Weather conditions for the area were not likely to be factors since they were normal through the winter and spring.

After much discussion, the radish farmers reached a decision--they would call in experts from the Aire County Agricultural Department to find out what damaged their crops. They composed the following letter:

"Dear Sirs:
We desperately need your help with a situation here regarding our radish fields. Many of our crops were seriously damaged, and we need to know why. Could you send a team to our county to help us out? Money is no object! We need to have the results right away!

To the Student: You are an agent with the Agricultural Department contacted by the Growers' Association. It is your job to solve environmental disasters, especially those related to agricultural areas. You have a number of tests available to you that you can use to discover solutions for problems of the type brought to you by the growers. First, your entire Department will all meet together and discuss and list as many possible causes for the radish crop failures as you can. In this type of session, everyone should get a hearing and no ideas are too far-out to be considered. At this time, you should also research current data. You can access such data from Aire State University, which has conducted regular testing of the Reuter River since 1945. The most recent data available is from 1995. Other resources available to you, including information about landfills, salt-storage facilities, and power plants, may be found on the "Internet Resources Page". Then, using all of this information, you should decide which tests you might want to perform. (Some tests you might consider are given below.)

Year	pH	Conductivity	Temperature (Celsius)
1975	7.6	375	20.2
1985	7.4	382	20.6
1995	7.5	389	22.7

(All agents must wear safety goggles when performing tests on water samples)

Site	Bioassay	Water Test 1	Water Test 2	Water Test 3

1. Get materials from supervisor (teacher)
2. Label bag with information from sample and names of group members.
3. Put paper towel in plastic bag.
4. Add contents of water sample container. Lay bag flat on the table for a few minutes to let water soak into the towel.
5. Arrange 10 radish seeds in a horizontal row about 2 inches up from towel bottom.
6. Seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and hang it as directed by supervisor. Handle it with care so you don't dislodge the seeds. Be sure your seeds show.
7. Observe seeds periodically and final number of seeds germinated on Agent Data Sheet.
8. You may also choose to measure growth of roots and shoots as well.

CLASS DATA SHEET--To be distributed by Supervisor during Department Meeting.

Working with your supervisor and your entire team, set up a test of the water temperature flow in the design pool. Using hot water colored with an indicator, you will take temperature readings across the stream and at varying depths along the stream bed, being sure to record at what location you measured. (For example, your probe was located in deep water at the inside of the stream away from the point where the hot water entered.) Record your results and discuss them in view of Roger's complaints about the power plant.

Using your CBL/Lab-Pro technology and additional water samples from your site, perform any other water tests you have decided upon, and record your data on the Agent Data Sheet.

As the expert, you must now prepare a report to submit to the Radish Growers' Association. Your report should include the following:

Follow-Up: Your Agriculture Department will meet and discuss all of the results. At this time, you will decide on the most likely solution.


Design Pool Setup	Submersible Pump

CBL and Probes	CBL Collecting Data

Experimental Setup	Recording Temperature

Collecting Conductivity Data	Collecting pH Data

Dye Plume	Power Plant in Oswego, NY

Irrigation System	Salt Dome in Virginia Beach, VA