Water Quality Testing Unit 1: The hydrosphere

Why is it important to test water quality? Our bodies are 70-80% water Diverse use and increased demand of available freshwater Pollution directly usurps the water cycle Where does this pollution come from? Impacts the diversity of aquatic life – why is this important? Recreational use as well Food chain

Today’s Water Quality Tests Turbidity pH Dissolved oxygen Nitrate Phosphate Alkalinity

Points of Reference White Perch Drinking Water Alkalinity - >20 ppm Turbidity – <50 JTU pH – 6.5-8.5 DO – >5 ppm Nitrate – 20-40 ppm Phosphate - <0.1 ppm Alkalinity – high! Turbidity - <0.5 JTU pH – 6.5-8.5 Nitrate – <10 ppm Phosphate - <0.1 ppm

Alkalinity Ability of a stream to buffer an acidic pH – preferred in abundant levels (usually) Indicative of a calcium carbonate (or like) bedrock Add indicator to sample water; run a simple titration (amount of titrating agent added will indicate levels)

Turbidity Cloudiness of the water, caused by suspended (in the water column) sediments Caused by disturbed/eroded sediment AND microorganisms Blocks sunlight from reaching Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) Shallow water test with a turbidity “target” measured in JTU (approx. equivalent to NTU) Trying to match the “fuzziness” of the targets (shake before testing) Shake the water once you get back inside; collect from middle of water column!

pH What is the pH of “normal” water? An indication of a sample’s “acidity” Logarithmic scale Wide-range pH kit Will probably take pH strips to Goose Creek As data is collected, a more narrow-range kit can be substituted Why would we want to do this?

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Necessary for aquatic organisms to live (respiration) Comes from atmosphere and aquatic photosynthetic organisms Dispersal rate is related to the movement of the water The warmer the water, the lower the potential DO level Winkler methods – “fixing the sample” Producing iodine in direct proportion to DO

Nitrate and Phosphate Enter from human/animal waste, decomposing matter, and fertilizer runoff Eutrophication – adding of nutrients to increase plant growth Is this always good? Color matching tests

Outside/Inside As a class, we will have three sites Upstream = 3 Middle = 2 Downstream = 1 Each group should take a temperature at each data site and make observations about where they collect the water from In your plastic Erlenmeyer flaks, collect a sample of water at each site. Where in the water column should we collect from? When we return inside, each group will run their respective water quality tests and enter their data on the class data sheet

Testing Groups – Period 6 Alkalinity – Andrea, Sydney, Jared Turbidity – Habiba, Jalen, JP pH 1 – AJ, Will pH 2 – Josh, Fernando Dissolved Oxygen – Leila, Brandon Nitrate 1 – CJ, Ashley Nitrate 2 – Molly, Sydney W. Phosphate – Cade, Yazan

Testing Groups – Period 7 Alkalinity – Carly, Valerie, Sebastian, Ashwin Turbidity – Julia, Taylor, Nate, Ken pH 1 – Sophia, Ayla, Raymond pH 2 – Shreya, Sarah, Jeremy Dissolved Oxygen – Martha, Brianna, Brandon, Vinnie Nitrate 1 – Monet, Brigid, Vince, Michael Nitrate 2 – Lauren, Christianna, Rumon Phosphate – Tim, Brie, Taylor, Kishan

Testing Groups – Period 8 Alkalinity – Aisha, Ashton, Mustafa, Brian Turbidity – Kat, Skye, Cole, Edwin pH 1 – Jocelyn, Maddie, Hadi, Nate pH 2 – Dilpreet, Jack, Delia, Trinity Dissolved Oxygen – James, Lauren, Nicka, Peter, Sam Nitrate 1 – Nitrate 2 – Phosphate – Rachel, Cha-cha, Dislher, Jackson