Indian Hill Water Quality Project Description 

The Indian Hill Water Quality Project began 16 years ago as an opportunity for high school students to monitor local watersheds.  Thanks to the support of the Village of Indian Hill, the Greenacres Foundation, the Metropolitan Sewer District, the Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District, school administrators, the students have participated in authentic field research and developed a partnership with local government.  

Juniors and seniors enrolled in Watershed Studies at Indian Hill High School have monitored four major watersheds in Indian Hill on a regular basis from October through March.  The study sites include Walton Creek, Sycamore South, Redbird Hollow, and Raider’s Run. 

Nine water quality tests are conducted during each field study.  Some of the tests are performed at the stream site.  The remainder of the tests are completed in the lab after collecting water samples.  Since stream water is constantly flowing and changing, the nine chemical tests provide a brief snapshot of water quality.  Long term changes are often reflected in the number and diversity of macroinvertebrate populations. Therefore, macroinvertebrate surveys are also conducted on a regular basis. 

Test results for each year are compared to a set of desirable standards.  The percentage of data points conforming to desirable standards are then calculated.  Our written reports highlight parameters which fail to meet desirable standards at least 50% of the time.   
 

In order to study long term trends, current data are compared to data collected during an early school year.  In comparing the two sets of data, the Student’s t test is employed to detect significant changes in parameter means.  Our written report identifies parameters that have significantly changed over the years of study, and indicates whether that change represents an improvement or decline in water quality.

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