lab report
Water Contamination 1
SCI 207: Dependence of Man on the Environment
Environmental Studies: Water Quality and Contamination
Lab 2 - Experiment 1: Effects of Groundwater Contamination
| Table 1: Water Observations (Smell, Color, Etc.) | ||
| Beaker | Observations | |
| 1 | Grey wastewater with pungent odor | |
| 2 | Grey wastewater with pungent odor | |
| 3 | Grey wastewater with pungent odor | |
| 4 | Grey wastewater with pungent odor | |
| 5 | Grey wastewater with pungent odor | |
Hypothesis:
Greywater is highly contaminated with both macro- and micro-pollutants.
Post-Lab Questions
1. Greywater from the five beakers is highly contaminated with both macro- and micro-pollutants, what is shown by the observations (grey color and purgent odor). So, hypothesis was confirmed: grey color indicated parabens, while purgent odor must be connected with the ammonium content presumably from urine contamination.
2. Two main types of contaminants, parabens and ammonium, have had the most potent effect on greywater, due to a fact that parabens produced its grey color, and ammonium content influenced its purgent odor.
3. On a larger scale, what type of affects would these contaminants have on a town’s water source and the people who drank the water?
If people were to ingest this contaminated water they might get sick, have birth defects, have trouble having a child, may die, etc. Instead of healthy drinking water, people in the cities would consume wasted greywater, with its grey color and purgent odor, what leads to their weakening and, in a long term perspective, to the multiple deceases of their excretory systems (Ottoson & Stenstrom, 2003).
4. From the introduction to this lab, you know that there are typically five steps involved in the water treatment process. Identify the processes (e.g., coagulation) that were used in this lab and describe how they were performed.
4. These types of human pollution are: chemical uses, industrial applications, and agriculture.
Within our house, other items are: transporting and food processing.
References
Ottoson, J., Stenstrom, T.A. (2003) Faecal contamination of greywater and associated microbal risks. Department of Water and Environmental Microbiology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Decease Control.
Turk, J., & Bensel, T. (2011). Contemporary environmental issues. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
