1. What is in your water? Comparisons of school water, bottled water, and dirty water The experiment we conducted was to see if the school’s water was safe to drink. We tested our school water from different locations, a variety of dirty water, and bottled water. We tested the water for nitrate, chlorine, copper, iron, pH, and hardness. We found that our water was safe for iron, pH, nitrates, and chlorine. However we found that the unpleasant taste of our water was from high copper levels and hard water levels. Mrs. Gilmore’s 7 th & 8 th grade class Jefferson Middle School, Tracy, CA Results: Discussion: Introduction:Introduction: Methods: During our experiment, we had the same amount of strengths as our weaknesses. For example, we needed rain water when it wasn’t raining. So we had to switch from rain water to other sources of dirty water. When we first started our experiment we observed the water because some of it was a Smoky white color. We were concerned that our school water wasn’t healthy. First we experimented the hardness of the water and we found out that our water was a little more harder than normal. The hardness of our water is safe because we get minerals. Hard water can cause aesthetic problems. The level of copper in are water is high enough to taste metallic but not high enough to kill you. When we tested iron but we were in the safety zone so it was safe to drink. Why does our water taste different if it’s safe to drink, because our water comes from a well. During our experiment we found that everything was in the safe category. The water is still soapy, and we didn’t know why or what is causing the water to look and taste that way. While doing the experiment we though more about ideas that we didn’t research about. We thought about if the school water is safe to drink, then why does it taste different than bottled water, but our data didn’t support this question. The purpose of our Team Science project was to see if our school water is cleaner then rain water. Our school, Jefferson School, gets its water from a well. We thought our school water was unclean because it was cloudy looking and sometimes it tastes different. During this experiment we found out that Tracy (CA) gets it water from the central valley project and reservoirs at the Tracy Pumping Plant, also, 30% of Tracy’s water comes from ground water sources. They clean waste in the water by using a screen to filter out rocks, bugs, and other materials inside the water. Water from the ground gets treated, as the water pump, pumps water from the ground, the pump has chemicals in it that help remove contaminates, sometimes they chlorinate it. They do this if they believe there is a bacterial or parasitic infection. To see if the water is contaminated. We tested: Total Iron, pH, Copper, Hardness, Chlorination and Nitrate. Our original hypothesis was, “If we tested rain water, bottled water, and our school water, then bottled water would be cleaner because the bottled water is actually distributed in the United States.” During our experiment, our independent variable was the different water we used at various locations, and our dependent variable was what we measured. We also tested dirty water to use as a baseline to compare with bottled water. (Ex. Total iron, chlorine, PH etc.) Materials: 5 test tubes. School Water. (Each from a different fountain: Girls bathroom, boy’s bathroom, office.) Dirty Water, any kind of dirty water will be acceptable. Kirkland bottled water. Healthy water, Healthy people Water testing kit Waste Water cup Gloves Paper Towels TrayScissors Tests Performed k Steps Iron Fill container halfway with water add powder shake for 5 sec. dip test strip in and move back and fourth for 15 sec. compare to chart and do it again. copper Get water sample dip test strip in water move back and fourth for 5 sec. hold strip level for 60 sec. out of water compare color on chart. Nitrate Dip strip into water for 1 sec. remove keep water on strip hold strip level for 30 sec. compare to colors on side. Hardness Dip strip in water for 1 sec. hold strip level for 15 sec. compare color to chart. Total chlorine Dip strip in water, move back and fourth for 30 sec. compare color to chart. pH Dip strip in water for 15 sec. compare the color to the chart.