final lab Report essay

LAB REPORT 10

Lab Report

Student Name

University Affiliation

Instructor’s Name

Introduction

Water safety and especially in terms of drinking is a subject that has come up recently. To promote good health among people in the world, there is need to ensure the consumption of clean water. Drinking water quality is a subject that has been investigated for a long period of time. Different studies has shown what constitutes drinking water that should be regarded as quality. A research was for instance conducted with an aim of studying the various chemical compounds of surface water, drinking water and groundwater and how they affect human health. To address this research, provisional drinking water guidelines values were used for 50 most common contaminants related to drinking water and the water cycle in general. For drinking water guidelines, the values were based upon literature of toxicological data. Concentration levels of chemicals in these waters were recorded and were then compared to the provisional guidelines. The study focused on two main river basins which were Meuse and Rhine. From the study, it was found out that compounds found in these river basins posed no appreciable concern to the health of the users (Schriks et.al, 2010). From study, it is very clear that there has been a need to ensure humans consume water that is safe or free from any harmful levels of contaminants.

The experiment was carried out with an aim of understanding whether there are benefits in consuming bottled water in comparison to the tap water. Generally, water contains various chemical compounds. It is, however, very important to note that bottled water normally undergoes certain purification levels in which the tap water is never subjected to. The experiment was thus conducted to identify whether drinking bottled water can be beneficial health wise in comparison to the direct consumption of tap water.

The hypothesis for this experiment was that if tap water straight from the faucet contains the most contaminants, then bottle water will have less added to them. This means that it is expected that bottled water will contain fewer contaminants when compared to tap water, once the experiment is conducted. This is the expected result as bottled water normally undergoes extra purification process compared to tap water.

Materials and Methods

Different contaminants were under investigation in this experiment. They included ammonia, chloride, phosphate, iron, pH and the 4 in 1 test that included total alkalinity, total chlorine and total hardness. Three different water samples were also used; they included tap water, Dasani bottled water and Fiji bottled water. The following were the materials used for this experiment: ammonia test strips, chloride test strips, 4 in 1 test strips, phosphate test strips, iron test strips, (3) 250ml beakers, (3) foil packets of reducing powder, pipettes, parafilm, permanent marker and stopwatch. Each of these materials had unique roles as will be described in the following procedures.

The three-250ml beakers were labelled tap water, Dasani and Fiji with 100ml of each water type being poured into these beakers. The first test involved ammonia; the ammonia test strips were placed in the tap water sample for a period of 30 seconds while vigorously moving the strip up and down. The test strips were then removed from the tap water sample with excess waters shaken off. The color of the small pad was then compared to the color chart. This procedure was then repeated for both Fiji and Dasani bottled water. The same procedure was used for chloride with the only difference being the reaction zone (the pad) was immersed in the three water types for 1 second and left for one minute before being compared to the color it coincided with at the chart.

For the 4 in 1 test, the strips were dipped into tap water for 5 seconds in a back and forth motion that was gentle. The strip was then removed from the tap water and shaken once for the purposes of eliminating excess water. After 20 seconds, the strip was matched to total alkalinity, total chlorine, total hardness and pH on the color chart. This was then repeated for both Fiji and Dasani bottled waters. For phosphate test, phosphate strips were dipped in the tap water for 5 second. The strips were then removed and held horizontally for 45 seconds after which the color was compared to the color chart. This was also repeated for Fiji and Dasani waters. The last test was the iron test. This was conducted differently from other tests. It began by removing 70ml of water from each of the three beakers so that it would remain 30ml. One foil packet was added to the beaker with tap water and covered with the parafilm after which it was shaken vigorously for 15 seconds. The parafilm was then removed and an iron test strip was introduced into the sample rapidly for five seconds. Excess water was shaken off and after 10 seconds, the test pad was compared the color at the chart. The same procedure was conducted for Dasani and Fiji waters. All results collected in these procedures were recorded in tables (Esciencelabs.com 2012).

Results

The following tables show the results that were obtained from all the experiments that were conducted.

From the above data, it is evident that none of the water samples had ammonia in them. Tap water had the highest among of chlorides, with Dasani and Fiji bottled waters having none. Tap water also had the highest total alkalinity, standing at 80mg/L, with Fiji and Dasani waters standing at 40 each. Total hardness was highest in Fiji bottled water, with the Tap water and Dasani water having no hardness. Total chlorine was also highest in Fiji water in comparison to the other two samples. Phosphate levels were highest in Dasani water while iron was highest in tap water. The three samples had different pH levels as shown in the table.

Discussion

From the above results, it is very evident that the hypothesis was confirmed. Tap water had the most contaminants in comparison to the bottled waters. Most of the contaminants tested were present in tap water with the exception of ammonia, which was absent in all the water samples.

The results clearly show that bottled water is more beneficial to humans in terms of consumption. Presence of contaminants in drinking water in one way or another poses great health risks to humans. Tap water as seen contained most of the contaminants which were tested in this experiment; thus posing the greatest health risks among the three samples tested. Each of these contaminants have thresholds that should not be exceeded. Bottled waters normally undergo purification processes with little or no chemicals added to them. This is why the results clearly show the bottled waters having less contaminants compared to the tap water. It is also important to note that most of the tap water normally pass through pipes of different nature. The metals also introduce more contamination and this is why the tap water sample had more contaminants. The experiment was conducted under strict conditions therefore eliminating the possibility being affected by other factors (Turk & Bensel, 2014).

One possible future question that may arise based on this experiment is on the processes in which bottled waters undergo. Most bottled waters have certain unique tastes that makes the process they undergo to be questionable. Despite the fact the experiment may show it has less contaminants, taste in these waters may be a question to consider in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, water quality is a very sensitive area in which humans must focus on. To ensure good health among humans drinking water quality should become a priority. It is therefore important to encourage the consumption of bottled waters as a result of the benefits they have on human body (Davison et.al 2005).

References

Schriks, M., Heringa, M. B., van der Kooi, M. M., de Voogt, P., & van Wezel, A. P. (2010). Toxicological relevance of emerging contaminants for drinking water quality. Water research, 44(2), 461-476.

Esciencelabs.com (2012). Introduction to Science.

Turk, J. & Bensel, T. (2014). Contemporary environmental issues (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Davison, A., Howard, G., Stevens, M., Callan, P., Fewtrell, L., Deere, D., ... & World Health Organization. (2005). Water safety plans: managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer.