Water Quality We all need clean water. What affects the water that we drink?

pH levels  pH levels are the measure of how acidic or basic a solution is.  pH is measured on a scale of 0-14  pH of 7 is neutral. It is neither acidic or basic.  Pure water has a pH of 7

How does pH affect water?  A change in pH of water can create chemical problems.  These chemical problems affect plants and animals in the water.  The more acidic or basic water becomes, the more toxic the water is to organisms in the water.

Turbidity  Turbidity is a measure of how cloudy the water is.  The more “turbid” the water is, the cloudier or murkier it is.

What causes water to have turbidity?  Soil erosion  Waste discharge  Runoff  Sediments are stirred up in water

OK…so how is that harmful to me?  Turbid, or cloudy water becomes warmer because the particles in the water can absorb heat from sunlight.  This causes the oxygen level in the water to fall (warm water holds less oxygen than cold water.)

OK…so how is this harmful to me?  When warm water from turbidity occurs, photosynthesis decreases, which makes oxygen levels even lower.  This affects the food web, which affects us.

Water temperature  One of the most common, easiest things to test for water quality is water temp.  Temp of water affects the chemical and biological traits of water. It also affects the dissolved oxygen levels in the water.

Water temperature  Warmer water than the source is considered thermal pollution.  It usually occurs near power plants. These power plants discard warm water into streams and lakes.

Water temperature  Warm water is less capable of holding dissolved oxygen.  This is a problem because plants then can’t get what they need to reproduce.  It also makes plants more likely to get a disease, parasites, or other susceptible to other types of pollution.

Dissolved Oxygen  Water needs an adequate amount of dissolved oxygen to provide life for plants and animals under water.

Dissolved Oxygen  Physical factors like warm water temps and high turbidity affect how much oxygen can be dissolved in the water.

Dissolved Oxygen  Too much dissolved oxygen can be harmful too, creating too much plant growth, which suffocates the water system.