1.
Data Collection Plan
Environmental Design Project
Submitted By:
Scott Delyea 10132615
Tyler Mulhall 10084211
Jilliana Wiersma 10122568
Pat Warren 10146177
Submitted on:
February 11, 2016

2. Introduction
The subject of our Experimental Design Project is drinking water in Lindsay, Ontario with a focus
on the chlorine levels in tap water. The purpose of our research is to determine if the residual
chlorine concentrations increase, decrease, or remain the same throughout the entire water
treatment distribution line in Lindsay, Ontario. Whether or not the residual chlorine
concentrations are high or low may affect the overall taste of the drinking water (​Proulx, F.,
Rodriguez, M. J., Sérodes, J. B., & Bouchard, C. 2012)​.​ Known through word of mouth, residents of
Lindsay have made complaints regarding the taste of the tap water which indicates the possibility
of a high concentration of chlorine. It is our goal to find out if there is a correlation between the
residual chlorine levels in the town drinking water with regards to how close the tap water source
is to the water treatment plant in Lindsay.
The dependent variable for this project will be where the location of the water being sampled is
on the distribution line. The independent variable for this project will be the concentration levels
of chlorine.
Null Hypothesis: ​There will be no significant difference in residual chlorine concentrations in
relation to where the water being sampled is located on the Lindsay water treatment distribution
line.
Alternate Hypothesis: ​There will be a significant difference between the residual chlorine
concentrations in relation to where the water being sampled is located on the Lindsay water
treatment distribution line.
Our prediction for this study is that as the further from the Lindsay water treatment plant the tap
water is, the lower the concentrations of residual chlorine will be.
Data Collection Procedures
For our data collection we will need the following list of material items
1. Lab Coats (if testing samples ourselves) ‐ Provided by the college
2. 500ml PEP Bottles (2 for every sample site) ‐ Provided by the college
3. Chlorine testing kits ‐ In talks with the CAWT about using their services
4. Clipboard ‐ Provided by each of us
5. GPS (2) ‐ Provided by the college
6. Ruler ‐ Provided by us
7. Safety glasses (if testing samples ourselves) ‐ Provided by us/the college
8. Latex gloves (if testing samples ourselves) ‐ Provided by the college
9. Pencils ‐ Provided by us
10. Aerial map of Lindsay ‐ Referenced from Google Maps
11. Water treatment distribution map ‐ Provided by the town of Lindsay
12. Lot map of Lindsay ‐ Provided by the City of Kawartha Lakes
For our methods we have divided the Town of Lindsay into 4 quadrants which show the
boundaries for each quadrant with each quadrant labeled see Figure 1. We will be following a
systematic random sampling method and will be running a one‐tailed F‐test to test our results. We
will begin by asking fellow Ecosystem Management classmates and other students via Facebook
and text message to sample their own homes in each quadrant, by doing this we can eliminate or

3. lessen the number of homes and businesses we would need to interrupt to do our research
project. We are using a stratified random sampling method because we feel it would give us a
better representation of our data. The exact sampling locations in each quadrant are unknown as
we do not know where students live and whom will be open or home when we go to collect our
samples (this will help us keep the sampling to a random method). The target sample size is
hopefully 5 samples from each quadrant ‐ the four corners and one in the center where possible. 5
samples x 4 quadrants = 20 samples. With two samples being collected from each sampling site
this brings the total amount of samples to 40. GPS data will taken at every sample site to be
inputted into ArcMap to help us generate a map with all the sampling locations labeled.
Figure 1: Aerial Map of Lindsay with the four sampling quadrants outlined
(Google Maps, 2016)
Data Collection Schedule
This schedule may be prone to change with minor adjustments, due to unforeseen circumstances
which the team may encounter.
Comments and Questions

4. We discussed possible questions we would have for Team Meeting #2 and two questions we
would like to discuss is if we have to use the Centre for Alternative Wastewater Treatment, would
the cost for the samples be tested possibly be provided by the program/college if the price is
reasonable? Also, another question we have in mind is, could we possibly get a an official letter
from the program stating why we are there and are officially with the college when trying to
sample private homes and businesses?
References
Proulx, F., Rodriguez, M. J., Sérodes, J. B., & Bouchard, C. (2012). Spatio‐temporal variability of tastes and odors of
drinking water within a distribution system. ​Journal Of Environmental Management​, ​105​12‐20.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.03.006