The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center focused its energy on water this week during the second annual Water Festival.

“It’s gone really well, we had great participation in all of our programs,” Nature Center Director and naturalist Larry Dolphin said.

The Water Festival’s theme, Clean Water, We All Live Downstream, focused on keeping the waterways clean and pollution out of lakes and rivers. About 600 people participated in the week’s festivities, through activities like collecting crayfish, canoeing and kayaking, cleaning garbage out of the water, testing the water quality around Austin and more.

There was also entertainment throughout the week, including artist Peter Mayer and author Chad Pregrake.

Tom Tylutki and his wife, Alice, attended the water-quality testing Friday for the second year, and Tylutki was excited to see if the results were different.

“It’ll be interesting to see what changes, and just to participate again,” he said.

He enjoyed learning what to look for in the samples last year, and hoped to learn what kind of pollutants were in the water. He was also glad to help the Nature Center collect data, and hoped they could use the information gathered in some of their programs. He also hoped the continual testing would help the water quality get better.

“I’m hoping it’s getting better in time with all the projects that are going on,” Tylutki said.

“It all adds up to improving our environment,” he added.

Dolphin said the festival went well this year, and it will continue in the foreseeable future. He hoped people left with a sense of how important water is.

“How important water is to us, how important clean water is to us,” he said. “And that we need to really think about how we can take care of it better.”

Dolphin also hopes eventually the use of plastic will be cut down, after he found many plastic bags in the water.

“I was pulling a lot of plastic bags out of Mill Pond,” he said.

Much of the plastic Nature Center, it’s got to be all of us,” he said. “And that’s the message, it’s got to be all of us.”

Several waterways were tested in Austin for quality. These are their stories:

 The state of Austin’s water

Water quality standards:

Sechi Tube Depth Levels above 25 NTU shows signs of impairment

Phosphate (PO4) Levels over .2 mg/L can cause harmful algal blooms

Nitrate Nitrogen Over 10 ppm are harmful to human and aquatic life

Dissolved Oxygen The general range for fish is from 7-11 mg/L with levels below 2 mg/L causing fish to suffocate. Levels below 5 mg/L can have an effect on aquatic life

E. coli The proposed standard is 126 cfu/ 100 mL, and 1,260 cfu/ 100 mL maximum.

pH A level of 7 is neutral condition, where below is acidic and above is basic

***According to information from James Fett, a watershed technician

 Dobbins Creek, Confluence:

Sechi Tube Depth 15 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.9 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 15 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 8.6 ppm

Temperature 20 degrees C/ 68 degrees F

E. coli 100 cfu/ 100 mL

pH 8.0

 Dobbins Creek, South Branch

Sechi Tube Depth 64 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 8 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 7.7 ppm

Temperature 20 degrees C/ 68 degrees F

E. coli 700 cfu/ 100 mL

pH 8

 Dobbins Creek, North Branch

Sechi Tube Depth 39 cm

Phosphate (PO4) .2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 15 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 7.8 ppm

Temperature 19 degrees C/ 67 degrees F

E. coli 1200 cfu/ 100 mL

pH 7.5

 Pond

Sechi Tube Depth >100 cm

Phosphate (PO4) .4 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 2 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 3.4 ppm

Temperature 23 degrees C/ 74 degrees F

E. coli 200 cfu/ 100 mL

pH 7.5

 Rose Creek, Larry Dolpin’s House

Sechi Tube Depth 51 cm

Phosphate (PO4) .2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 12 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 7.6 ppm

Temperature 18 degrees C/ 65 degrees F

E. coli 300 cfu/100mL

pH 7.8

 Cedar River, below Austin (Sola Fida)

Sechi Tube Depth 64 cm

Phosphate (PO4) .5 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 14 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 7 ppm

Temperature 19 degrees C/ 68 degrees F

E. coli

pH 8

 Turtle Creek, 12th St. SW

Sechi Tube Depth 24 cm

Phosphate (PO4) .4 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 5.5 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 6.5 ppm

Temperature 22 degrees C/ 70 degrees F

E. coli 400 cfu/100mL

pH 8.5

 Wolf Creek, Todd Park

Sechi Tube Depth 69 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 12 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 8 ppm

Temperature 23 degrees C/ 74 degrees F

E. coli 400 cfu/mL

pH 8

 Spring at Todd Park

Sechi Tube Depth >100 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 2 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 14 ppm

Temperature 54 degrees F

pH 8

 Cedar River, above Austin (off bike trail bridge between interstate and cemetery, near Fourth St. NW)

Sechi Tube Depth 100 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.3 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 10 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 9.2 ppm

Temperature 74 degrees F/ 23 degrees C

pH 8.2

 Murphy Creek, 21st Ave. NW, Mapleview

Sechi Tube Depth 97 cm

Phosphate (PO4) .2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 4 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 10.8 ppm

Temperature 70 degrees F/ 22 degrees C

pH 8.5

 Tom Oot’s Wetland, Site 1 (Wolf Creek, 560th Ave.)

Sechi Tube Depth 63 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 715 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 9.9 ppm

Temperature 16 degrees C

pH 8

 Tom Oot’s Wetland, Site 2 (Wolf Creek, 555th Ave.)

Sechi Tube Depth >100 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.2 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 10 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 19 ppm

Temperature 18 degrees C

pH 9

 Tom Oot’s Wetland, Site 3 (Wolf Creek, County Hwy 16, across the road from radio station)

Sechi Tube Depth >100 cm

Phosphate (PO4) 0.6 mg/L

Nitrate Nitrogen 10 ppm

Dissolved Oxygen 9.8 ppm

Temperature 16 degrees C

pH 8.5