Lab Report On Water Quality
Rachel Bohnenberger
Professor Van Doorn
ENVS 150-002
2 March 2015
Water Quality Lab Report
Introduction: When people are asked about how water is characterized, they usually will think of saltwater, freshwater, safe-to-drink freshwater, and tap water. Only a few people understand that water and its quality are characterized in several other ways beyond salt, fresh, and tap water. In 1967, the Water Quality Act, which was an amendment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, was passed. The Act required each state to establish criteria for the quality of all interstate waters and develop a plan for the enforcement of the criteria (Wilhm and Dorris). One of the most important parameters required for the description of the characteristics of water is the lifetime value of ozone. The lifetime of ozone is characterized by direct laboratory experiments and it is extremely sensitive to the chemical composition of the water (Hoigné and Bader). There are also characteristics included in analysis of water quality that complicate the results of quality tests such as non-normal distributions, seasonality, flow relatedness, missing values, values too low to be detected, and serial correlation. However, there are supplemental techniques that account for the complications. The seasonal Kendall test accounts for seasonality, missing values, and values too low to be detected. The seasonal Kendall slope estimator is more accurate in detecting data that is more likely to be skewed. The final technique accounts for change over time of the relationship between constituent concentration and flow (Hirsch, Slack, and Smith). My hypothesis for the Chevy Chase street runoff water sample is that it will have the highest turbidity out of the other water samples. I predict that if the street runoff has the highest turbidity, then it will also be the least safe for people to drink.
Materials and Methods: When testing for the presence of chemicals in the water sample, we also
Professor Van Doorn
ENVS 150-002
2 March 2015
Water Quality Lab Report
Introduction: When people are asked about how water is characterized, they usually will think of saltwater, freshwater, safe-to-drink freshwater, and tap water. Only a few people understand that water and its quality are characterized in several other ways beyond salt, fresh, and tap water. In 1967, the Water Quality Act, which was an amendment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, was passed. The Act required each state to establish criteria for the quality of all interstate waters and develop a plan for the enforcement of the criteria (Wilhm and Dorris). One of the most important parameters required for the description of the characteristics of water is the lifetime value of ozone. The lifetime of ozone is characterized by direct laboratory experiments and it is extremely sensitive to the chemical composition of the water (Hoigné and Bader). There are also characteristics included in analysis of water quality that complicate the results of quality tests such as non-normal distributions, seasonality, flow relatedness, missing values, values too low to be detected, and serial correlation. However, there are supplemental techniques that account for the complications. The seasonal Kendall test accounts for seasonality, missing values, and values too low to be detected. The seasonal Kendall slope estimator is more accurate in detecting data that is more likely to be skewed. The final technique accounts for change over time of the relationship between constituent concentration and flow (Hirsch, Slack, and Smith). My hypothesis for the Chevy Chase street runoff water sample is that it will have the highest turbidity out of the other water samples. I predict that if the street runoff has the highest turbidity, then it will also be the least safe for people to drink.
Materials and Methods: When testing for the presence of chemicals in the water sample, we also