The Water Quality Project – 4th Grade
Water Buoy Laboratory Presentation
Hydrology means the study of water (“hydro” means water and “logy”
means knowledge). A hydrologist is an environment scientist that is a
specialist in water quality.
You are a hydrologist and you work for a company named Water Buoy
Laboratory that helps government agencies and businesses to identify and
monitor water pollution problems.
The owner and founder of the company is Dr. Aquarius Gaston and he has
invented the SuperBuoy. The SuperBuoy is a water monitor that conducts
nine tests for water quality in the field. Hydrologists no longer have to
collect samples and bring them back to the lab for testing. One piece of
equipment, a buoy that floats in the water, will collect and test the sample.
The mayor of Small Town has asked Water Buoy Laboratory to determine if
there is a water quality problem in the town. If there is a water quality
problem, the mayor wants to know the possible reasons. He gives you the
following information:
 The Small Town Fishing Association reports that many dead fish are
being found in the river and lake.
 Small Town Elementary School, which is beside the lake and river,
reports that their students are becoming ill.
 The citizens of Small Town report that the water in the river and lake
smells funny.
Dr. Aquarius Gaston thought this case would be a good place to first use
the new SuperBuoy monitor. Five weeks ago, he went to Small Town and
placed the monitors. However, he suddenly became sick and is now in a
coma in the Small Town Hospital. No one knows if his illness was caused by
bad water. No one knows where he placed the monitors.
You and your partner at Water Buoy Laboratory are concerned about Dr.
Gaston. Is the water responsible for his illness?
If you are ready to begin this Learning Adventure, take the LEVEL I QUIZ.
Water Buoy Laboratory Quiz
?Multiple choice: What does the prefix HYDRO mean?
*Blue
*Knowledge
*Water
!Water
+Yes, you are right! The prefix HYDRO means WATER.
-Sorry, you are incorrect - the prefix HYDRO means WATER.
#
?Multiple choice: What does the suffix LOGY mean?
*Powerful
*Knowledge
*Water
!Knowledge
+Yes, you are right! The suffix LOGY means KNOWLEDGE.
-Sorry, you are incorrect. The suffix LOGY means KNOWLEDGE.
#
?What is the name of the Water Buoy Laboratory’s newest water monitor?
*Monitor X
*Oh Buoy
*SuperBuoy
!Superbuoy
+Correct - the newest water monitor from Water Buoy Laboratory is SUPERBUOY.
- INCORRECT - the newest water monitor from Water Buoy Laboratory is SUPERBUOY.
#
?How many tests will the new SUPERBUOY conduct while floating in the water?
*6
*9
*23
!9
+Yes, you are correct - the new Superbuoy monitor will conduct nine tests.
- INCORRECT - the new Superbuoy monitor will conduct nine tests.
#
?Small Town has had no reports of which of the following:
*sick kids
*oily foam
*dead fish
! oily foam
+Yes, you are correct - oily foam has not been mentioned.
- INCORRECT - oily foam has not been mentioned.
#
?Has bad water made Dr. Gaston so ill that he went into a coma?
*Yes
*No
*Unknown
! Unknown
+Yes, we do not know – only your team’s research will be able to find this out.
- Sorry, but we do not know the answer - only your team’s research will be able to find this out.
#
E
1. Log into NOBLE and go to the Sweet-Water Laboratory headquarters.
Put on your Sweetwater Uniform and ID badge. Decide on who is
going to hold what position in the company:
a. President – leader of the group and compiler of the field
research.
b. Vice-President of Physical Research
c. Vice President of Chemical Research
d. Vice-President of Biological Research.
2. Watch and discuss the presentation over the three kinds of
environmental testing (physical, chemical and biological).
3. Explore Small Town to evaluate which test locations will
generate the best samples.
a. To get reliable results the water in a single
location has to be tested on three different days.
b. Due to a limited budget, Small Town can only
afford to pay for a total of 12 tests.
c. Therefore, you can only place water monitoring
stations at four (4) locations.
d. Pay attention to things in the surrounding area
that might be causing pollution.
e. Meet back at the headquarters to make a
decision.
f. Use the attached worksheet to record your
decisions.
4. Copy a sampler at headquarters and place one at each of the four
sampling locations.
The SuperBuoy Water Monitor
Have you ever gone out into the field top take a sample only to realize that you left a
piece of equipment back at the lab?
Have you ever lost a sample, or the sample wasn’t large enough, and you had to go back
into field to take another?
Do you enjoy counting those bugs and worms for the Sequential Comparison Index (SCI)
or touching that water with Fecal Coliform Bacteria?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will be glad to hear about the state-ofthe-art SuperBuoy Water Monitor by WaterBuoy Laboratory.
The SuperBuoy Water Monitor is a top-of-the-line water monitor that features the
automatic sampling and analysis of the nine measurements of the NFS Water Quality
Index PLUS the automatic sampling and analysis of the Sequential Comparison Index
(SCI).
It is lightweight and easy to place in a pond, river or lake.
So stop hauling around all that equipment and use 21st Century Technology to DO THE
JOB RIGHT with the Superbuoy Water Monitor.
Don’t be the last hydrologist on the block without one.
Get yours today!
Available only from WaterBuoy Laboratory.
the:
(1) Automatic sampling and analysis of the nine tests needed for the NSF Water Quality
Index.
The NSF Water Quality Index
The water quality index was developed by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF). It is
a 100 point scale that summarizes results from a total of nine different measurements.
However, some of these measurements are motre important than others. Therefore, they
are weighted (they count more):
Water Quality Factors and Weights
Factor
Weight
Dissolved oxygen
0.17
Fecal coliform
0.16
pH
0.11
Biochemical oxygen demand
0.11
Temperature change
0.10
Total phosphate
0.10
Water Quality Index Scale
91-100:
Excellent water quality
71-90:
Good water quality
51-70:
Medium or average water quality
26-50:
Fair water quality
0-25:
Poor water quality
Fecal Coliform Bacteria Test
Fecal Coliform Bacteria are naturally present in the human
digestive track. This bacteria should be rare or absent in
“unpolluted” waters. Coliform bateria should not be found in
sources of drinking water. Their presence in water serves as a
reliable indication of sewage or fecal contamination. Less than
1000 bacteria colonies per 100 mL of water is acceptable by the
government for waters used for swimming purposes, while less
than 5000 BC/100mL are allowed for waters used for boating or
fishing. This test will indicate if your sample has above or below
200 BC/100mL, thus indicating if fecal matter has contaminated
your sample.
Directions:
1. Since this test requires a 48-hour incubation period, all the
water samples have already been tested earlier this week.
2. Find the vial labeled with the same letter as your beaker.
3. Compare the color of the fluid inside the beaker to the
Coliform color chart.
4. If your result is Negative your Q-value is 100; if positive,
your Q-value is 65.
Dissolved Oxygen Test
This test measures the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) is important to the health of aquatic
ecosystems because all aquatic organisms need oxygen to survive.
The DO in water is available to fish, invertebrates, and aquatic
plants. If the levels are low, then the organisms might drown.
Low levels of DO in water are signs of possible pollution.
The percent saturation of dissolved oxygen in water is an
important measurement of water quality. Cold water can hold
more DO than warm water; therefore, the temperature of the
water must be accounted for.
Directions:
1. Record the temperature of your water sample.
2. Fill the small tube all the way to the top with water from
your sample.
3. Drop 2 DO test tablets into the small tube. It’s ok if some of
the water overflows. If water does not overflow, you do not
have enough water in your tube!
4. Screw the cap on the tube. More water will overflow as the
cap is tightened. Make sure that there are no air bubbles in
the sample.
5. Mix/shake the tube until the tablets disintegrate.
6. Wait 5 minutes for the color to develop.
7. Compare the color of your sample to the DO color chart.
This will give you the ppm DO in your sample.
8. Look at the % Saturation Chart. Use the temperature and
the ppm DO of your sample to determine its % saturation.
9. Now, determine and record the Q-value using the 2nd Chart
provided.
Nitrate Test
Nitrate is a nutrient needed by all aquatic plants and animals to
build protein. It is a measure of the oxidized form of nitrogen.
The decomposition of plants and animals, as well as the
excretions from living animals can release nitrates into the aquatic
system. An excess of this nutrient can plant grow and decay and
promote bacterial decomposition, all of which can decrease the
amount of oxygen available in the water.
Sewage is the main source of excess nitrate added to the water.
Fertilizers and agricultural runoff also contribute high levels of
nitrate.
Nitrates can be harmful to humans because it affects the ability of
our red blood cells to carry oxygen. This is especially true for
infants or people with already weak immune systems.
Directions:
1. Fill the test tube to the 5mL line with your water sample.
2. Add 1 nitrate test tab.
3. Cap tube and mix until the tab has dissolved.
4. Wait 5 minutes for the color to develop.
5. Compare the color of the sample to the Nitrate Color Chart
(if no color develops at all, the result is 0ppm). Record the
ppm Nitrate.
6. Determine the nitrate Q-value of your sample.
ppm Nitrate
Q-value
0
98
5
95
20
73
40
36
Phosphate Test
Phosphate is a nutrient needed for plant growth and animal
growth. It is also a fundamental element in metabolic reactions.
High levels of this nutrient can lead to the overgrowth of plants,
increased bacterial activity, and decreased oxygen levels.
Phosphate comes from several sources, including human and
animal waste, industrial pollution, and agricultural runoff. Phosphates can be present in the water in many forms, so this test will
give an estimate of the total amount of phosphate potentially
available in a given water supply.
Directions:
1. Fill the test tube to the 10 mL line with your water sample.
2. Add 1 phosphorus test tablet.
3. Cap and mix tube until the tablet has dissolved.
4. Wait 5 minutes for the blue color to develop.
5. Compare the sample to the phosphate color chart (if no
color develops at all, the result is 0ppm). Record the ppm
Phosphate.
6. Determine the nitrate Q-value of your sample.
ppm Phosphate
Q-value
0
98
1
92
2
37
4
14
pH Test
pH is a measurement of the acidic or basis quality of water.
Most forms of aquatic life tend to be very sensitive to changes
in pH. These organisms are highly adapted to a specific pH
level and may die if the pH of water changes even slightly.
The pH of natural water is usually between 6.5 and 8.2. The pH
of seawater is usually between 7.8 and 8.4.
Directions:
1. Turn on palm and open up the Imagi Probe Software.
2. Make sure it is on Investigation 4
3. Press New Trial and make sure the sensor is set to test pH.
4. Rinse probe with Distilled water from Squeeze bottle and
wipe dry with a Kim Wipe. Place probe in sample.
5. Press Preview on Palm, then press Collect
6. The probe will collect 5 pH readings during one minute and
display them (the red numbers in the upper left). Record
the 5 pH readings on your data sheet. Take the average and
record this as the pH reading for your sample.
7. On the Palm, press Stop, Cancel, and then Delete to prepare
the probe for the next group.
8. Compare to the pH Water Quality Values chart to determine
the Q-value for your sample.
pH Water Quality Values
PH
<2.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
7.5
8.0
9.0
10.0
11.0
12.0
>12.0
Q-value
0
2
4
8
24
55
90
92
85
50
50
22
7
2
Percent Saturated Dissolved Oxygen
Temp oC
(unbolded numbers are the % saturation for the
associated ppm and Temp)
Dissolved Oxygen ppm
0 ppm
4 ppm
2
0
29
4
0
31
6
0
32
8
0
34
10
0
35
12
0
37
14
0
39
16
0
41
18
0
42
20
0
44
22
0
46
24
0
48
26
0
49
28
0
51
30
0
53
8 ppm
58
61
64
68
71
74
78
81
84
88
92
95
99
102
106
% Saturated DO Water Quality Values
% Saturation
0
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
Q-value
0
20
30
43
56
77
88
95
100
95
Water Quality Index Data Sheet
Circle letter of your sample:
A
B
C
D
E
Group Members:
Test
Parameter
Test Results
Q-value
Temperature:
ppm DO:
% Saturation:
Positive
Fecal Coliform
Negative
Dissolved
Oxygen
Nitrates
ppm Nitrate:
Phosphates ppm Phosphate:
pH
pH1:
pH2:
pH3:
pH4:
pH5:
Average pH:
Weighing
Factor*
Total
Quality
Index
0.27
0.25
0.16
0.16
0.17
*The weighing factor indicates the importance of each parameter to the overall water quality. The
parameters with higher weighing factors are considered more important in determining water quality
than the ones with smaller factors.
Overall Water Quality Index:_______
(Sum up values in last column)
Guess where your sample came from:
Circle the Water Quality of this
sample based on index (use scale):
Excellent
Good
Medium/Average
Fair
Poor
Actual Location Where Sample Taken:
(Ask mentor)
Hydrologists
Water Quality Tests:
Dissolved Oxygen
This test is the most important of the nine water quality tests to measure water's
ability to support plants and animals. There are many different factors that affect
the amount of dissolved oxygen in water, the main one being temperature. As
temperature rises, less gas will dissolve.
Oxygen saturation in the environment generally refers to the amount of oxygen
dissolved in the soil or bodies of water. Environmental oxygenation can be
important to the sustainability of a particular ecosystem. Insufficient oxygen
(environmental hypoxia) may occur in bodies of water such as ponds and rivers,
tending to suppress the presence of aerobic organisms such as fish.
Deoxygenation increases the relative population of anaerobic organisms such as
plants and some bacteria, resulting in fish kills and other adverse events. The net
effect is to alter the balance of nature by increasing the concentration of anaerobic
over aerobic species.
Hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, is a phenomenon that occurs in aquatic
environments as dissolved oxygen (DO; molecular oxygen dissolved in the water)
becomes reduced in concentration to a point where it becomes detrimental to
aquatic organisms living in the system. Dissolved oxygen is typically expressed as
a percentage of the oxygen that would dissolve in the water at the prevailing
temperature and salinity (both of which affect the solubility of oxygen in water;
see oxygen saturation and underwater). An aquatic system lacking dissolved
oxygen (0% saturation) is termed anaerobic, reducing, or anoxic; a system with
low concentration—in the range between 1 and 30% saturation—is called
hypoxic or dysoxic. Most fish cannot live below 30% saturation. A "healthy"
aquatic environment should seldom experience less than 80%. The exaerobic
zone is found at the boundary of anoxic and hypoxic zones.
Turbidity
Turbidity measures water clarity, which allows sunlight to penetrate to a greater
depth. The main sources of turbidity are erosion, living organisms, and those from
human endeavors
The most widely used measurement unit for turbidity is the FTU (Formazin Turbidity
Unit).
Governments have set standards on the allowable turbidity in drinking water. In the
United States, systems that use conventional or direct filtration methods turbidity cannot
be higher than 1.0 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) at the plant outlet and all samples
for turbidity must be less than or equal to 0.3 NTU for at least 95 percent of the samples
in any month. Systems that use filtration other than the conventional or direct filtration
must follow state limits, which must include turbidity at no time exceeding 5 NTU. Many
drinking water utilities strive to achieve levels as low as 0.1 NTU.[8]
Total Solids
Total solids measures both dissolved and suspended solids. There are six major
types of total solids; silt, clay, soil runoff, plankton, industrial waste, and sewage.
Ph Level
The PH of water is important to aquatic life. If the PH falls below 4 or above 9
everything is dead.
pH
pH is a measure of acidity. Pure water has a pH of 7. Water with a pH of less than 7 is
acidic and water with a ph greater than 7 is alkaline.
Temperature and Flow Rate
Temperature is a very important part of a river's ecology. There are many natural
and human factors that can affect a river's temperature. Human factors include
industry, development, and dams. To measure temperature and flow rate you must
find two places along the river that are about 1.6 kilometers apart that have the
same conditions, then two people measure the temperature at approximately the
same time. If the difference is greater than 2 degrees Celsius, then there is thermal
pollution. To find flow rate you use a buoyant object, we used an orange, and
float it down the river.
Nitrates
Nitrogen is necessary for plant and animal life. Water is tested for nitrates to
monitor and control eutrofication , which causes more plant growth and decay.
Fecal Coliform
This nasty stuff is a certain bacteria that propagate in the digestive tracts of
humans and animals. They coexist with other bacteria so they are often used as
indicators of possible pathogenic contamination. There are many ways fecal
coliform can enter a waterway such as animal waste, untreated sewage, combined
sewage overflow, and septic tanks.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
BOD is a measure of oxygen removed from an aquatic environment by aerobic
microorganisms. It measures levels of organic pollution in lakes and streams.
Phosphorous
Phosphates is a nutrient needed in growth. The phosphate ion is found in shells,
bones, and in animal teeth. By removing phosphorous from sewage the amount of
phosphate ions in the water will be lowered.
http://www.fivecreeks.org/monitor/
http://www.water-research.net/watrqualindex/
The index values and water quality ratings are based on the number of different kinds of
macroinvertebrates collected, rather than the number of individual specimens collected.
Good water quality is indicated by a variety of different kinds of macroinvertebrates.
Poor water quality may be indicated by large numbers of only a few kinds of
macroinvertebrates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_state_index
The Sequential Comparison Index (SCI)
Measuring Diversity: Background
Macroinvertebrates are the "bugs" found throughout the riparian system and are
excellent indicators of the overall health of the system. These "bugs" spend the
majority of their lives in the water, sediment, algae, and vegetation around the
stream or pond. Some organisms are relatively resistant to pollution and/or
variable stream flow, while others are very sensitive to changes in the water
quality. By observing what type of species are present in the stream we can get a
better understanding of the long-term health of the stream or pond.
The diversity of organisms is also a potential indicator of stream quality. A simple
diversity index, called the Sequential Comparison Index (SCI) can be performed
by placing a random sample of invertebrates in a tray and counting the different
organisms. Each time a different type of organism is encountered, the student
will record this as the start of a new run.


SCI = # of runs
# of organisms
The SCI runs from 0 to 1.0, with 1.0 representing the greatest diversity. You can
use the SCI to evaluate water quality.
SCI
Water Quality
0 - 0.30
poor
0.31 - 0.60
fair
0.61 - 1.0
good
For example: You have collected 15 bugs. You identify a sequence of 5 mayflies,
and then find a leach, then 4 mayflies, two scuds, a gilled snail, and then 2 more
mayflies. Your number of runs is 6.
6/15 = 0.40
The water quality is fair!!
The advantage of the SCI is you don't have to accurately identify all of the
organisms, just whether or not they are different.
http://www.fivecreeks.org/monitor/
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/watershed/wqi_nsf.html