Water Quality Testing



The Erin Brockovich movie has inspired us to test our own water from different places in our county. In the experiment, a number of pollutants were tested: carbonate, chloride, chromate, iron, lead, phosphate, and sulfate. Two samples of water were taken, one from the drinking water fountain at school and the other from a natural spring in Smithfield. In sample one, the water from the drinking fountain, suprisingly no pollutants were found. In sample two, the spring water, no polllutants were found except small amounts of phosphate and chloride. Phosphate is found in fertilizers, detergents, and wastewater from humans, animals and plants. Chloride is found in rocks and soil. Both the pollutants were typical because the spring water actually comes from the ground which contains rocks, soil, and wastewaters. Although, I didnt think any pollutants were going to be found in anything but the water in the school fountain. The pollution found in the natural spring water was nonpoint water pollution. The pollution did not come from a specific place such as a factory or power plant. In conclusion, although, pollutants were found, the water is still safe for humans to drink.


This picture shows the pollutants tested in sample 2, as you can see some wells are cloudy, these wells showed that the water tested positive for chloride and phosphate.