Background
I went scuba diving this past summer and my instructor told me that there is only about 0.7% available as fresh drinkable water. I understand the importance of water which is what got me thinking about ways to increase that percentage of the fresh drinking water in the world.
I was walking on the Lenape trail next to Mill Pond, which is a local trail, and I saw the water did not look very clean because it is township property and the township may not be able to clean the water. So I decided that I would help clean the pond, but how?
I did some research and found out that there are several substances used to filter water (Gravel and Sand). I decided to make an experiment to find out which substance would best filter the
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Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. Pure water has a pH very close to 7
Nitrate level: Nitrates are inorganic compounds made up of nitrogen and oxygen.
Water Pollution: Water Pollution is the contamination of water bodies. It occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds
Hypothesis
I hypothesized that gravel will best filter waste from pond water because gravel is a permeable substance/ material meaning that gravel has a lot of pores which can trap some of the dirt particles.
Materials
Procedure
Part 1:
1. Measure 250 mL of the pond water and measure the pH, Nitrate level, and observe/ record the turbidity of the water
2. Take one of the glass jars and place a coffee filter on top, then pour some of the pond water over the filter.
3. Re- measure the pH, Nitrate level, and turbidity of the water to see if there was any change and record the data.
Part 2:
4. Wash the sand with filtered tap water in order to clean the sand
5. Now take another glass jar and place a coffee filter. On top of the filter place about one gram of sand. Pour the 250 mL of pond water over the sand.
6. Measure the pH and turbidity of the filtered water
7. Now use another gram of sand and re-filter the same water. Measure the pH, Nitrate level, and turbidity of the
Because salt dissolves in water, we added water to the salt and sand mixture. Sand is insoluble in water making the sand not dissolve. The mixture containing of sand and salt water was then filtered with filter paper. The filter paper allowed the salt water to pass through because it is a liquid while not allowing sand to pass through because it is a solid. The salt water was then collected in a pre-weighed 250-mL (67.88 gram) beaker while the sand and filter paper was put in a pre-weighed (52.02 gram) 100-mL beaker. The water was then evaporated because we left both beakers to dry overnight.
Each person got to test either the phosphates, nitrates, dissolved oxygen, or the ph in the creek. Phosphates and nitrates are nutrients found in water due to fertilizers, decaying plants and bacteria. Dissolved oxygen is the amount of gaseous oxygen dissolved in the water. As we recorded our results, we discovered that the dissolved oxygen levels were very high, which is good because the higher amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, the healthier the creek is. The phosphates levels in the creek were all perfect zeros, which is great because having nutrients in the creek is not healthy. The nitrate levels were slightly higher, at 0.9. That is not bad at all, but it isn’t perfect, showing signs of pollution. The ph levels in the rocks were neutral, right at seven. If they were lower than 7, that would mean they have acids in them, and if they were higher than 7, they would have alkaline in them. Alkaline, or bases, neutralizes acids. The number of rocks that we found that neutralized acid was 65, and the number of rocks that did not neutralize acids were 29. This shows that about one-third of the rocks in the creek do not neutralize acids.
In this next stage we’re doing the Eutrophication Test, which is a test that finds the phosphate, nitrate, and dissolved oxygen. After everybody did their test, we all gathered and compared our results. My group did the phosphate test and got 0 ppm, and the everybody got an average of phosphate of .l ppm. Then the average for nitrate was .9 ppm. Last the average we all calculated for dissolved oxygen was 9.8 ppm.
Squeeze one drop of food coloring into the water and observe closely for 1-2 minutes.
To filter the foul water, 100.1 mL were poured into a graduated cylinder. The water had a dark brown color, with tiny particles floating around in the substance. It was also murky and hard to see through with a small
For nitrates, little lake pond has a measure of 0.45ppm, drinking water has 2.24ppm and canal had 0.79ppm. These measures are an indication that the water is not safe to drink and can cause algal blooms due to the canal water being lower than 1ppm [1]. All of these parameter values show us how even though these water samples are close to one another their qualities may be different. When testing for these parameters, it became difficult to try and record the numbers during the right time. We found that the relationships between Ph and alkalinity (Figure 2) have a negative correlation because as one increased the other decreases. With conductivity and alkalinity (Figure 3) we see that there is a positive correlation because as one variable goes up so does the other. While conducting this lab my group in particular kept having trouble with dropping the samples. It made it difficult for us to try and gather all of the data because we kept having to clean up and obtain more water samples. Another issue we ran into was when we were testing for alkalinity, we would lose count of the drops we put in, also causing us to restart our
pH is usually to measure acidic or basic water is. pH is a measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in water. There are 0-14 range to be measure which is 7 is for neutral while pH which less that 7 is acidity and the pH which is greater than 7 is alkali. Water that more free hydrogen ions is acidic while water has more free hydroxyl ions in water is basic. Chemicals in the water can affected the pH in water. Ph show an important indicator for water if it chemically changes. pH is showed in logarithmic units. The change acidity or alkali in water represent in 10-fold. pH of 5 is ten times more acidic in water than pH of 6.
The most important thing to know about a DIY pond filter is the cost is much less than having to buy a commercial filter. PVC piping is the main material you will use for this project. You can find what you will need for this project at any local hardware store.
Pour the water into the cup and mix them to create a solution using one glass stirring rod.
Starting November 3rd, samples were collected from Lake Storey Park in Galesburg, IL. Samples were taken weekly from various locations in the water as to achieve a complete depiction of the entire body of water. The first sample provided evidence that the water was of “Average” quality. The dissolved oxygen was measured 100.6 % saturated by a Vernier Optical Dissolved Oxygen Probe, a fairly normal level for water. Using the Water Quality Value Charts provided by the Georgia Virtual School, the measurement of dissolved oxygen was correlated on the chart with a “Q-Value” of 100. Since the Q-Value was discovered, determining the Subtotal of the test was the next step. To determine the Subtotal, the Q-Value of the given measurement must be multiplied
Around 70% of the world is covered in water, and over time water tends to change. Oxygen levels can rise, temperatures may decrease, and different environmental changes may be introduced. Naturally, water stands to be at a pH level of 7, that being neutral in acidity. However, due to the changes in water over time it seems, that too is changing over time. Even more so changes come from multiple sources outside of the environment, this includes cities and agricultural lands. In fact, a small percentage of water bodies are near agricultural areas, which also may influence a change in the water, with the introduction of nitrates and phosphates, from agricultural runoffs. Nitrates and phosphates are known to have high oxygen levels, which will affect bodies of water further. On an ecological scale, such changes put the aquatic inhabitants in danger. With this being known groups of scientist went to investigate the changes in water bodies by measuring the nitrate and phosphate levels in comparison to the dissolved oxygen levels, as well as the pH, temperature, and turbidity to see if any real significant changes have occurred.
In this experiment dissolved oxygen levels were tested based on the amount of water flow at the pier and the beach of Winthrop Lake. As water flow speed increases, the dissolved oxygen content is predicted to increase as well. At the pier of Winthrop Lake there is a irrigation system that is moving water around in that area and on the beach side the water is not seemingly flowing at all. Five different samples from each location were collected and their dissolved oxygen content was tested. The water flow was tested at the site of the water collection. The water flow was seemingly a small amount higher near the beach than at the pier, with the results being significantly significant with a p-value of .000. Dissolved oxygen levels were equal in both locations of the lake, being statistically insignificant with a p-value of 1. The results yielding this experiment did not support the idea that where there is more water flow then the dissolved oxygen content will be higher.
Ammonia test strips, Chloride test strips, 4 in 1 test strips, Phosphate test strips and Iron test strips. Equal amounts of the three waters were tested for water quality and contamination in the areas of Ammonia, Chloride, Alkalinity, total chlorine, total hardness, phosphate, iron and pH. Each specific test used test strips to measure the amount of contaminates and the results recorded in the below Tables 1 through 6.
Water pollution is the contamination of natural bodies of water by various hazardous waste, such as chemical, physical, radioactive or pathogenic microbial substances. Averse water quality can cause several different types of ailments, for example cholera is spread through contaminated food and water. It is most common in areas without a waste treatment systems, so the sewage seeps into the town’s water supply. There are four classes of water pollutants first being Chemical Pollutants which are “generally atoms or molecules, which have been discharged into natural water bodies, usually by activities of humans.” (Hogan) The second class being Physical Pollutants such as trash or temperature change. The third class is Radioactive substances “a special sub-class of chemical pollutants, and by mass represent the smallest of the contributors to water pollution.”
What makes water pollution occur? Firstly, urbanisation in which people move to the big cities can cause physical disturbance on land due construction of houses, industries, roads, etc. According to Mohan Rao,1971; CPHERI, 1972 water pollution occurs when there is a removal from the industrial sector, emissions from municipal waste, and elimination of defective products affect water quality. In addition to construction works, chemical pollution from industries and mines are also contributing to even worsened water pollution. Over population in certain cities causing inadequate sewage collection and treatment with unmanaged litter, plus increase in fertilisers to grow more food. This results in an increase in nutrients (nitrates and