What’s in your water? We can tell you Melissa Friscia Richard Janosky Kiersten DeBlaker

We care, you should too.

Water samples Before starting this experiment, we had to collect water samples of the stream running through the campus WEATHER CONDITIONS: Cold, rainy and possibly freezing rain. Collected samples on 04/01/2011

Water samples Tom’s Gas StationRugby Field Walkway Had ducks, and multiple trash objects (soda cans, Beer bottles/cans). Discoloration: More civilization No trash visible and no animals. Rocky area

Water samples FootbridgeDriving Bridge Smelled like a dirty fish tank. Food wrapper, orange peel Somewhat civilized with students No visible trash. Gate was closed so no cars recently gone through. Somewhat rocky area

Water samples MURPH’S!!!Well Water and Rain Well water was collected in a civilized area Rain was collected in a bottle Ducks, trash, iron bar, graffiti. More civilization (Apt, houses)

Calibration Curves

Calibration curves Our calibration curves for all eight of our standards showed that our standards were made to the best of our abilities. We were able to use our standards as a good prediction as to how our samples would turn out.

ICP Data Tom’s (ppm) Rugby Field (ppm) Footbridg e (ppm) Driving Bridge (ppm) MURPHS !! (ppm) Well (ppm) Rain (ppm) Arsenic Cadmium Below our standards Chromium Copper Below our standards Below our standards Nickel Below our standards 1.09 Below our standards Lead Zinc Below our standards

What this means…. Chromium Levels in water is supposed to be around 0.06 ppb We obtained a calculated concentration of around 4 ppm RICHARD DOESN’T HAVE CANCER Nickel Levels in natural water sources should be less then 10 ppb Levels in drinking water should be approximately 2 ppb RICHARD IS NOT DEAD

IC Data Peak Height Tom’s Rugby Field Footbridge Driving Bridge MURPHS!!WellRain Fluoride Chloride 0.047n.a. Nitrite Bromide n.a. Nitrate Phosphate Sulfate n.a. Ion Chromatography Data

What this Means Nitrite How we think it got there: fertilizers and municipal sludge High levels in water can cause harm to infants and livestock if allowed to drink the water Ducks found in both places with the highest levels of nitrite in the water Fluoride Rain water : fluoride is naturally found in rain water Heath risks: excess amount of fluoride Treatment: Natural water samples are not treated with fluoride like in a water treatment plant Civilization: more activity around the water decreased the amount of fluoride

What We Would Do Different NEXT TIME!! Collect samples before and after the rain storm Create standards in a smaller concentration Test samples in the other surrounding natural waters here in York, PA

Conclusions The ICP data was very skewed and did not give us accurate results; time restraints prevented us from re-running our samples The IC produced accurate levels of ions in the samples Would not advise drinking or playing in the stream running through York College

References chromium-levels-found-in-many-cities-tap-water/ chromium-levels-found-in-many-cities-tap-water/