Rough Draft of the Final Report

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Lab 2 – Water Quality and Contamination

Experiment 1: Drinking Water Quality

Bottled water is a billion dollar industry in the United States. Still, few people know the health benefits, if any, that come from drinking bottled water as opposed to tap water. This experiment will look at the levels of a variety of different chemical compounds in both tap and bottled water to determine if there are health benefits in drinking bottled water.

POST-LAB QUESTIONS

1. Develop a hypothesis regarding which water sources you believe will contain the most and least contaminants, and state why you believe this. Be sure to clearly rank all three sources from most to least contaminants.

Hypothesis = If tap water straight from the faucet contains the most contaminants, then bottled water will have the least contaminants added to them.

Table 1: Ammonia Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results (mg/L)
Tap Water	0ml/l
Dasani® Bottled Water	0ml/l
Fiji® Bottled Water	0ml/l

Table 2: Chloride Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results (mg/L)
Tap Water	0ml/l
Dasani® Bottled Water	0ml/l
Fiji® Bottled Water	0ml/l

Table 3: 4 in 1 Test Results
Water Sample	Total Alkalinity (mg/L)	Total Chlorine (mg/L)	Total Hardness (mg/L)
Tap Water	80mg/l	4.0mg/l	50mg/l
Dasani® Bottled Water	0m/l	0mg/l	0mg/l
Fiji® Bottled Water	40mg/l	4.0mg/l	120mg/l

Table 4: Phosphate Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results (ppm)
Tap Water	10ppm
Dasani® Bottled Water	0ppm
Fiji® Bottled Water	120ppm

Table 5: Iron Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results (ppm)
Tap Water	0ppm
Dasani® Bottled Water	0ppm
Fiji® Bottled Water	0ppm

Table 6: pH Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	4
Dasani® Bottled Water	5
Fiji® Bottled Water	6

2. Based on the results of your experiment, would accept or reject the hypothesis you produced in question 1? Explain how you determined this.

Accept/reject = Based on my results I will have to reject my hypothesis. Because after experimenting with tap and bottle water I found out that not all bottled water is the same and can contain more contaminants then tap water.

3. Based on the results of your experiment, what specific differences do you notice among the Dasani®, Fiji®, and Tap Water?

Answer = Dasani was the least contaminated and only real difference was that it had the highest pH levels compared to Fiji and Tap water. Fiji was the most contaminated by having significant levels of alkalinity, chlorine, hardness, phosphate and pH levels. Tap water had the same contaminates as Fiji but didn’t have some of the levels Fiji had in their water.

4. Based upon the fact sheets provided (links at the end of this document), do any of these samples pose a health concern? Use evidence from the lab to support your answer.

Answer = Based on all the fact sheets the one that stood out the most with most health risk is chlorine. Studies have shown that when residual chlorine levels drop below recommendations, several water quality problems can occur. Chlorine can react to other organic materials in drinking water and form chemicals called Trihalomethanes (THMs), such as chloroform. These potential carcinogenic can cause cancer. There are real, clear statistics that show chlorinated water increases the chances of bladder cancer.” (Mastroianni, 2011). Consuming chlorinated water for a long period of time can also cause someone to possibly develop asthmatic symptoms or conditions.

5. Based on your results, do you believe that bottled water is worth the price? Use evidence from the lab to support your opinion.

Answer = To me I don’t believe bottled water is worth the price. Based on the results not all bottle water is the same and depending on where you live, tap water will not be the same either. During my experiments tap water and Fiji bottled water has similar contaminants, while the other bottle water tested Dasani had the least contaminants. Which made me believe that if you are going to buy bottled water that is the brand you want to buy. But if you wanted to save money and drink tap water. I would just buy a special filter that can help filter all the contaminants and make it the safest water to drink. Even though all these three samples were within standards and considered safe to consume.

**NOTE: Be sure to complete steps 1 - 32 of Lab 3, Experiment 1 (the next lab) before the end of this week. Lab 3 involves planting seeds, and if the work is not started this week, your plants will not have time to grow and the lab will not be finished on time.**

FACT SHEETS: Please refer to these to answer Question 3. If you use information from any of these, don’t forget to cite and reference it in APA format in your lab. You are also welcome to use additional or alternative credible resources that you locate online if you wish.

Ammonia https://www.wqa.org/Portals/0/Technical/Technical%20Fact%20Sheets/2014_Ammonia.pdf

Chloride

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chloride.pdf

Phosphate

http://osse.ssec.wisc.edu/curriculum/earth/Minifact2_Phosphorus.pdf

Iron

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/iron.pdf

pH https://www.watersystemscouncil.org/download/wellcare_information_sheets/potential_groundwater_contaminant_information_sheets/9709284pH_Update_September_2007.pdf

Alkalinity

http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water_quality/quality1/28-08-alkalinity.htm

Chlorine

http://www.watertechonline.com/testing-for-chlorine-in-drinking-water/