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Final Lab Report: Water Quality & Contamination
Student: Monica McNeal
SCI207: Dependence of Man of on the Environment
Instructor: Jeffrey Sigler
Date: August 5, 2013
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A Study of the groundwater contamination, water treatment and water quality
Abstract
In this experiment we explore the effects of groundwater contamination, study the
water treatment process and test the quality of tap water versus bottled water.
Groundwater is rain water that infiltrates the soil and underlying rocks, or water
from lakes that is absorbed in the soil or bedrock. When harmful substances are
absorbed in the groundwater, the contamination is not only harmful for humans, but also
causes problems to the flora and fauna.
In the first experiment we study the effects of groundwater contamination. Two
main types of contaminants, parabens and ammonium, have had the most potent effect
on greywater, due to a fact that parabens produced its grey color, and ammonium
content influenced its purgent odor (citation). By mixing water with common products
we have in our household we were able to show the chemical poperties of the water
were changed by vegetable oil, vinegar and laundry detergent. Imagine that happening
on a global scale, and that will give us a picture of massive groundwater contamination
that is detrimental to the living organisms.
In the second experiment we studied the process of water filtration. We created a
home filtration system, similar in concept to the ones used municipal wastewater
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treatment plans. This experiment made us aware that succesfull wastewater treatment
will eliminate the ammonia, chloride, phosphate and iron from tap water. The test strips
helped us identify the amounts of the chemical elements that are still present in the
drinking water.
The third experiment examined the levels of various chemicals in bottled water
and tap water. The bottled water industry is a multi-million dollar industry in the United
States (citation??). This experiment helped us properly understand the fact that bottled
water is not necessarily free of chemicals and may not be more beneficial compared to
the treated tapwater.
Introduction
Water is a basic living necessity that needs to be protected. According to the
EPA, "40% of people living in the United States use groundwater for drinking, cooking,
cleaning, showering, and all other types of activities. 97% of people living in rural areas
of the nation use groundwater, and 30-40% of water used agriculturally (for farming) is
from the ground" (1) In other words, water is used for many important things such as
drinking, washing, cooking, and feeding animals. Wastewater contamination is highly
detrimental to humans, plants and animals.
Groundwater contamination is separated into biological and organic and
inorganic chemicals. Pesticides are used to kill insects but can easily be absorbed in
wastewater and cause liver damage and cancer in humans (2).
Nitrates, found in fertilizers, can also cause serious problems. According to the
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Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum for Groundwater Contamination, over
115 million tons of fertilizers are used in the Unites States every year. Fecal coliform
can cause serious problems, especially E. Coli bacterial infestations that are highly
contagiuous. A thorough waterwater treatment process is essential toward avoiding
public health issues. Benzene is another form of contamination generated by leaking
fuel tanks and industrial water. According to the Michigan Environmental Education
Curriculum for Groundwater Contamination, too much benzene causes "cancer,
nerve,lung,kidney and blood disorder(2).
The wastewater treatment process is a lenghty process that includes screening,
pumping, aerating, removing sludge, killing bacteria and finally disposing the
wastewater residues (3).
According to Suzanna Didier, "bottled water isn't always as safe as tap water".
The NRDC conducted a 4 year study and decided that "roughly 22 percent of the water
tested contained contaminant levels that exceeded strict water health limits. " Hormonedisrupting phtalates in plastics also have a tendency to leach into bottled water (3)
You need to include hypotheses here!
Materials and Methods
Experiment 1 - Effects of groundwater contamination:
Materials:
8-250ml beakers
permanent markers
3 wooden stir sticks
100 ml graduated cylinder
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10 ml vegetable oil
10 ml vinegar
10 ml liquid laundry detergent
240 ml soil
funnel
cheesecloth
scissors
water
Procedure:
1. Using the permanent marker, label the beakers 1-8.
2. Set beakers 5-8 aside. Fill beakers 1-4 with 100 ml of water using your 100 ml
graduated cylinder.
3. Add 10ml of vegetable oil to Beaker 2. Mix thoroughly with the wooden stir stick.
4. Add 10 ml vinegar to beaker 3. Mix thoroughly
5. Add 10 ml of liquid laundry detergent to beaker 4.
6. Cut cheesecloth inti five different pieces so that you have a piece 4 layers thick and
big enough to line the funnel.
7. measure out 60 ml of soil using the 100 ml beaker and place it into the cheesecloth
lined funnel
8. place the funnel inside beaker 5.
9. Pour the contents of Beaker 1 through the funnel so that it filters into beaker 5 for one
minute.
10. Discard the cheesecloth and soil from the funnel.
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11. record the observations in a table
Experiment 2- Water treatment
Materials:
1. 100 ml potting soil
2. 2-250 ml beakers
3. 2-100 ml beakers
4. 100 ml graduated cylinder
5. 40 ml sand
6. 20 ml activated charcoal
7. 60 ml gravel
8. 1 wooden stir stick
9. funnel
10. cheesecloth
11. bleach
12. stopwatch
13. water
Method:
1. Add 100 ml of the soil to the 250 ml beaker. Fill to the 200 ml mark with water
2. Pour the soil solution back and forth between the two 250 ml beakers for a total of 15
times
3. Pour the mix into a clean 100 ml beaker. This sample will be used to compare to the
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treated water at the end of the filtration process.
4. Add 10 grams of alum to the 250 ml beaker containing the contaminated water. Stir
with the wooden stick and let the solution sit for 15 min.
5. Rinse out the emplty 250 ml beaker. Place the funnel into the clean 250 ml beaker.
Fold a piece of cloth so that you have a piece 4 layers thick that is big enough to line the
funnel. Place it inside the funnel.
6. Begin layering the funnel, starting by pouring 40 ml of sand into the cheesecloth-lined
funnel, then 20 ml activated charcoal, then 40 ml gravel. Use a 100 ml beaker to
measure these amounts.
7. To solidify the filter, slowly pour clean tap water through the filter until the funnel is
full. Discard the rinse water from the beaker and repeat four more moves. Return the
funnel to the top of the beaker and let sit for 5 minutes before emptyiong the beaker and
continuing the experiment.
8. Pour about 3/4 of the contaminated water into the Funnel. Let it filter throiugh the
funnel into the beaker for 5 minutes.
9. Note the smell of the filtered water, comparing to the one on step 2.
10. Remove the filter and add a few drops of bleach solution to the filtered water within
the beaker. Stir the water and bleach combination slowly for 1 minute.
11. Compare the newly filtered water with the contaminated water.
Experiment 3- Drinking water quality
Materials
1. Dasani bottled water
2. Fiji water
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3. Ammonia test strips
4. Chloride test strips
5. 4 in 1 test strips
6. Phosphate test strips
7. beakers
8. parafilm
9. pipettes
10. tap water
Methods:
1. Label three beakers Tap water, dasani and Fiji. Pour 100 ml of each type of water
into the corresponding beakers.
2. Perform the ammonia test using the test strip by reading the instructions on the
package insert.
3. Read the ammonia test results after 30 seconds by comparing the color of the test
strip with the color chart on the package insert.
4. Perform the chloride test using the test strip by reading the instructions on the
package insert.
5. Read the chloride test results after 30 seconds by comparing the color of the test strip
with the color chart on the package insert.
6. Perform the 4 in 1 test using the test strip by reading the instructions on the package
insert.
7. Read the 4 in 1 test results after 20 seconds by comparing the color of the test strip
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with the color chart on the package insert
8. Perform the phosphate test using the test strip by reading the instructions on the
package insert.
9. Read the phosphate results after 45 seconds by comparing the color of the test strip
with the color chart on the package insert
10. Perform the iron test using the test strip by reading the instructions on the package
insert.
11. Read the iron test results after 10 seconds by comparing the color of the test strip
with the color chart on the package insert
Results
Experiment 1- water observations
Table 1: Water Observations (Smell,
Color, Etc.)
Beaker
Observations
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Grey wastewater with pungent odor
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Grey wastewater with pungent odor
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Grey wastewater with pungent odor
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Grey wastewater with pungent odor
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Grey wastewater with pungent odor
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Expriment 2We compared the newly filtered water with the contaminated water.
The color of the contaminated water was gray and had a pungent smell. It was also
fuzzy and had reduced visibility.
The color of the newly filtered water was clear and had a clean smell. The water was
clear and could not see any visible sediments.
EXperiment 3- Ammonia Test results
Water sample
Test results
Tap Water
yellowPut the actual numbers in your
tables (be quantitative) ??
Dasani
Yellow Put the numbers here!
Fiji
yellow
Chloride test results:
Water sample
Test Results
Tap Water
light violet
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Dasani
violet
Fiji
light violet
4 in 1 test strip
Water Sample
Ph
Total Alkalinity
Total Chlorine
Total Hardness
Tap Water
light red
green
yellow
light brown
Dasani
light red
green
light green
light brown
Fiji
light red
green
yellow
light brown
Phosphate Test results:
Water Sample
Test results
Tap Water
yellow
Dasani
yellow
Fiji
yellow
Iron Test results:
Water Sample
Test Results
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Tap Water
light gray
Dasani
light gray
Fiji
light gray
You need to include your quantitative results (numbers)
Discussion:
Experiment 1:
Greywater from the five beakers is highly contaminated with both macro- and micropollutants, what is shown by the observations (grey color and purgent odor). So, the
hypothesis was confirmed: grey color indicated parabens, while purgent odor must be
connected with the ammonium content presumably from urine contamination.
Two main types of contaminants, parabens and ammonium, have had the most potent
effect on greywater, due to a fact that parabens produced its grey color, and ammonium
content influenced its purgent odor.
Experiment 2:
Our household- made filtering process was succesfull and the hypothesis is proven. We
were able to filter the water using cheesecloth as shown in the color, smell and visibility
of the post filtered water.
Experiment 3:
We could find some deficiencies with the Dasani water as compared to the TapWater
and Fiji. The Tap Water and Fiji water had very similar results using the color test strips.
However, Dasani has higher chloride amounts which supports our hypothesis that not
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all bottled waters are equal when it comes to the filtration process.
Respond to all of the postlab questions here.
Conclusion:
In this experiment we were able to show that groundwater highly contaminated with
both macro- and micro-pollutants, what is shown by the observations (grey color and
purgent odor).
In return, we have in place filtratiuon systems which makes our tap water drinkable and
safe to feed animals in farms. We were able to filtrate the water and as a next step to
our experiment would be to use chlorine, phosphate, iron and 4 in 1 test strips to detect
how succesful was our home filtration. The test strips are a more reliable testing source
than color, smell and visibility.
Finally, not all bottled waters are equal in terms of the quality of the water that it is
offered. We were able to show that tap water had lower levels of chloride than Dasani
bottled water. However, a possible flaw with the chlorine testing is the fact that the color
changes are very minutious and depends on the vision capacity of the technician that
performs the test. In the future would be highly recommended to use some numerical
test methods to quatify the amounts of chlorine, iron, phosphate and pH present in tap
water versus bottled water.
References:
1.Matthew Babcock/Michigan Tech (n.d.). Groudwater Contamination-Michigan
Environmental Education Curriculum. Retrieved July 23,2013, from
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http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module04/title.htm - See more at:
http://reffor.us/index.php#sthash.7i1CfjJR.dpuf
2. Howard Pearlman/U.S Geological Survey (n.d.). A visit to a wastewater-treatment
plant:. Retrieved July 23,2013, from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/wwvisit.html
3. Didier, S. (n.d.). Water Bottle Pollution Facts. SF Gate, Retrieved from
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/water-bottle-pollution-79179.html.
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