Essay on Water Quality and Contamination based on week 2 lab

Running Header: WATER QUALITY 6

Water Quality and Contamination

Rebecca Garner

SCI 207 Dependence of Man on the Environment

Instructor: Freddie Perez-Arocho

December 23, 2013

INTRODUCTION

Our ground water is located below the surface of porous rocks. The ground water is susceptible to being contaminated by natural causes and our stupid mistakes. We, as humans, allow a huge amount of chemicals to get into our ground water. Some of the chemicals we allow into the water are things like laundry detergents, motor oil, fertilizer, pesticides, medicines and many others on a daily basis. All the chemicals and materials are allowed to soak into the ground and dissolve into our ground water. Chemicals and contaminates dissolve and become soluble at different rates and when they reach the water table underground either by flowing or rain water moving downward. Ground water can be contaminated by things like Cadmium, Nickel, Chromium, and many other things that are both organic and nonorganic. (Christensen et al, 2001) The medicines that get into our water can cause many health complications (e.g. cancer).

The objective of this experiment was to figure out how bad contaminates affect our water and the processes we have to go through to try to clear that water up.

The experiments reflect on how various items contaminate our ground water and the processes for treating that water to make sure our drinking water is bacteria and contaminate free.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The materials used in experiment one were (8) 250 ml beakers, 100 ml beaker, 100 ml cylinder (graduated), 10 ml graduated cylinder, 60 ml soil, vegetable oil, vinegar, and liquid laundry detergent. I put 100 ml of tab water in four of the 250 ml beakers. The first beaker was plain tap water, beaker two I added 10 ml of vegetable oil, beaker three added 10 ml vinegar, and in beaker four there was 10 ml of liquid laundry detergent added. They were all stirred up. Beaker five I funneled the tap water from beaker one through 60 ml of soil and then took the other three beakers and filtered through cheesecloth ( beaker two into beaker six, beaker three into beaker seven, and beaker 4 into beaker eight.

In experiment two the materials used was 100 ml potting soil, (2) 250 ml beakers, (2) 100 ml beakers, 100 ml graduated cylinder, 40 ml sand, 20 ml activated charcoal, 60 ml gravel, alum, funnel, cheesecloth and bleach. We started by taking 100 ml potting soil, putting it into a 250 ml beaker and filling to the 200 ml mark with tap water. Then poured the soil back and forth 15 times between 2 beakers. Put 10 ml into a clean 100 ml beaker. At this point added 10 grams of alum with the contaminated water and stirring it for 1-2 minutes and let it sit for 15 minutes. While the contaminated water with alum was sitting we lined the funnel with cheesecloth, 40 ml of sand, 20 ml of activated charcoal and 40 ml of gravel. To solidify this we poured clean tap water through the filter 5 times. At this point poured three fourths of contaminated water into the funnel and letting it filter for 5 minutes.

In experiment three we used Dasani bottled water, Fiji bottled water, tap water, ammonia test strips, chloride test strips, 4 in 1 test strips, phosphate test strips, iron test strips, (3) 250 ml beakers, and reducing powder. Put 100 ml of each type of water in a beaker and then tested each one with all the various types of test strips and recorded the results in the appropriate table on the lab report.

RESULTS

Table 1: Water Observations (Smell, Color, Etc.)
Beaker	Observations
1 – Plain Water	Stayed plain water
2 – Vegetable Oil	Oil stayed on top of the water and bubbled with no smell and water stayed clear
3 – Vinegar	Stayed clear and mixed well had a vinegar smell
4 – Laundry Detergent	Mixed well turned cloudy and no had no smell
5 – Soil	Turned water brown as it drained into the beaker and had no smell
6 – Vegetable Oil	Did not see a change
7 – Vinegar	Vinegar bubbled in the water and still smelled the vinegar
8 – Laundry Detergent	Turned cloudy and still had no smell

The results here let us know that we might not always see a contaminate even though it could still be there.

Table 2: Ammonia Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	0
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	0

Table 3: Chloride Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	0
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	0

Water Sample	pH	Total Alkalinity	Total Chlorine	Total Hardness
Tap Water	6	0	1.0	0
Dasani® Bottled Water	3	0	.2	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	6	0	1.0	0

Table 5: Phosphate Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	10
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	10

Table 6: Iron Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	.15
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	0

The results here showed with the proper filtration and treatment that is really does not matter if it is tap water or bottled water. Now of course we are on well water and it was just highly chlorinated because they found bacteria in it.

DISCUSSION

I feel that the hypothesis was proven true. With the proper filtration and treatment the water seemed to clear up and safe for drinking and cooking. Keeping in mind there are some contaminates that cannot be cleared up no matter what.

As stated previously motor oil and some of the other contaminates cannot be cleared up no matter how much filtering and treating is done to the water.

I believe that all the experiments can vary depending on whether it is city or well water, location of where you live and how they treat the water. We can control whether our water is contaminated or not by watching what we are doing. We need to be careful about vehicles leaking motor oil, people draining their washing machines into the ditches and woods, etc. There is really a lot we can do to control the water contamination.

CONCLUSION

The experiments opened my eyes to what the contamination does to our water and how much we must go through to filter and treat the water to make it safe for cooking and drinking. I would like to ask everyone to respect our ground water, streams, rivers, etc by not littering or pouring contaminates in our ground.

References:

Christensen TH, Kjeldsen P, Bjerg PL, Jensen DL, Christensen JB, Baun A (2001). Biogeochemistry of landfill leachate plumes. Appl. Geochem., 16: 659–718.

Turk, J., & Bensel, T. (2011). Contemporary environmental issues . San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

http://hermes.ecn.purdue.edu/cgi/convwqtest?/fs-2.me.ascii

http://www.blackherbals.com/health_effects_of_drinking_water_contaminants.htm.