I have 2 short environmental biology labs this week. I attached the questions and the power point that goes with the second one.
Drinking Water Contamination Lab
Name________________________________________________
Drinking water contamination is a major concern all over the world. Without safe drinking water, humans cannot survive. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) monitors drinking water in the U.S. for contaminants.
“EPA has drinking water regulations for more than 90 contaminants. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) includes a process that EPA must follow to identify and list unregulated contaminants. This process may lead to development of a national primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR) in the future.
EPA must periodically publish this list of contaminants (called the Contaminant Candidate List or CCL) and decide whether to regulate at least five or more contaminants on the list (called regulatory determination). A regulatory determination is a formal decision on whether EPA should initiate a rulemaking process to develop an NPDWR for a specific contaminant.” (EPA 2020)
This lab has two parts to it. For the first part you will enter your zip code into the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) database to see what contaminants have been found in your area.
Then you will watch a video about the drinking water contamination that took place in Flint, MI.
Procedure Part 1
Go to the EWG tap water database website:
https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/
Enter your zip code in the database. My zip code is: _________________
Select the water utility for your area.
What is the water utility for your area?_____________________________
Look on the right side of the screen. It states the Utility Details. Fill them in below.
Utility Details
Location:__________________
Serves:___________________
Data Available:_____________
Source:___________________
Scroll down to see Contaminants Detected to answer the following questions.
How many contaminants are detected?__________
How many contaminants exceed EWG health guidelines?___________
How long has it been since legal contaminants in tap water have been updated?__________
What is the best way to ensure clean tap water?____________________
Scroll down to see the contaminants.
List the contaminants and their possible effects found in your area (if any) that exceed EWG health guidelines.
Choose one of the contaminants and click on details. Answer the following questions.
Contaminant__________________
What level was it found at for that utility?_________________
What is the EWG health guideline level?_________________
What is the legal limit?_________________
What is the national average?______________
What is the state average?________________
What are the pollution sources?______________
What are the filtering options?_______________
Is the contaminant level breaking any laws?
Choose one other contaminant and answer the following questions.
Contaminant__________________
What level was it found at for that utility?_________________
What is the EWG health guideline level?_________________
What is the legal limit?_________________
What is the national average?______________
What is the state average?________________
What are the pollution sources?______________
What are the filtering options?_______________
Is the contaminant level breaking any laws?
Questions
1.Were you surprised by the number of contaminants in your area? Why or why not?
2.The contaminant levels you found probably are not breaking any laws. Do you think you should be concerned about the levels listed if they are not above the legal limit? Why or why not? EXPLAIN!
3.Click on the 3 lines next to the Menu button on the EWG website and select Pollution Sources. Read that information to answer the following questions.
What contaminants are a result of agriculture?
What contaminants are a result of industry?
What contaminants result from urban areas and urban sprawl?
What is urban sprawl? (if you don’t know, you might have to look this up)
4. Are any contaminants naturally occurring? How do humans impact these naturally occurring contaminants? Give an example.
Procedure Part 2 – Video
Now you will watch a video about the lead contamination in Flint, MI.
There is a link posted on Blackboard called Poisoned Water on Nova. It is a lengthy video (almost an hour) but it’s interesting.
Watch the video and answer the following questions.
1.What was the new water source that Flint switched to?
2.Why did the city switch water sources?
3.Why is a coagulant used to treat water?
4.Why did General Motors stop using the Flint River water?
5.What is the EPA’s lead and copper rule?
6.Lead can disrupt brain growth. What age group is most affected by high lead levels?
7.Most plumbing pipes contain lead. Why aren’t more people affected by the lead from the pipes? What is scale?
8.What is corrosion control treatment? Was Flint using this treatment?
9.How did Flint’s corrosive water affect the scale on the pipes? What happened to the lead in the pipe?
10.What were some symptoms people were exhibiting in Flint?
11.Has Washington D.C. experienced lead contamination in water?
12.Describe the lead contamination in D.C. water. How did it occur?
13.To analyze lead levels in Flint, MI, researchers from Virginia Tech used “citizen science” to collect data. What is meant by “citizen science”?
14.What were Virginia Tech’s findings about the lead results in Flint?
15.The state’s testing protocols for lead testing were different than that used by Virginia Tech and the results were lower lead levels. How did the state of Michigan water testing protocols differ from that of Virginia Tech?
16.What type of study did a pediatrician do in Flint, MI that helped prove lead contamination in the water? Describe the study.
17.Did the state of Michigan believe the pediatric study findings?
18. How did legionella bacteria survive in the Flint water?
19.Who was held responsible for the water contamination and cover up?
20.What do you think? Were you aware of the contamination in Flint before watching this video? Are you surprised that this happened? If you lived in Flint, would you trust the city if they told you that the water is now safe to use?
