Assessing Water Quality in a Stream by Chemical Means

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Assessing water quality by chemical means

  1. Introduction

      The aim of this experiment was to investigate water quality by chemical tests with which the

momentary characteristics of the water could be assessed very precisely. The temperature, turbidity,

flow velocity, ph (measures the alkality or acidity), total hardness, ammonium, nitrate, phosphate and dissolved oxygen content (measures the amount of oxygen in water)of the water were measured.    

This investigation was carried out at a stream in Bükkös.

2. Materials & Methods

a. materials 

Thermometer

ph meter

Transparent plastic bottle

Test kits

Turbidity disc

Stop watch

Floating object (paper boats)


b. method 

  1. Measuring temperature and pH:
    The temperature was measured using a thermometer, which was held into the water for 30 seconds. This was done at two different point of the stream and at the same place, the pH was measured at the same points.
  2.  Measuring turbidity:
    The turbidity was measured using a transparent plastic bottle. A turbidity disc was put on its surface and it was then filled with water. The water was then compared to the turbidity disc’s color and thus the turbidity was determined.
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  1. Measuring flow velocity:
    The flow velocity was measured using paper boats. A 10 meter long distance was measured and the boat was taken to starting point of the measured distance. Then, the speed of the boat was calculated. This was repeated 3 times.
  2. Test kits were used to measure the total hardness, ammonium, nitrate, phosphate and the dissolved oxygen content.


3. Data 

a.)        The ph paper showed a green colour,  the value of its pH was 7.

Table 1: The temeprature and its pH at the two places

b.)        The speed of the water was tested ...

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