Running head: DRINKING WATER

Saipans Water Quality compared to the EPA Standards

Jacqueline Dalawampu

Northern Marianas College

EN202: English Composition

Ms. Bunts-Anderson

December 04, 2017

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract .. 3

Introduction/Background ..... . 4

Literature Review . 4

Method . .6

Analysis ..7

Discussion .. 9

Conclusion . 10

References . 11

Appendices .. 12
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ABSTRACT

A college student from the Northern Marianas college reports the findings about the

water quality. The island of Saipan has made their own drinking water bottles that locals are

buying and consuming. Results suggests that not everyone is being informed on how safe and

clean it is to drink and also where the water are tested and what process the water goes through

before being put into individual bottles. The researcher has conducted surveys and mini

experiments for data. The researcher finds that participants can differentiate between tap water

and distilled water, but cant differentiate water from off-island through a water taste test. The

researcher wants to inform the readers how safe the drinking water and how it compares

nationally.
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Introduction/Background

For many many years till now, humans has been drinking water in their lives. Water is

essential in living. It is important for living such as plants need water to grow and not die. A

human can live for weeks without food, but will not survive past three days without water

(Ghose, 2015).

Why is it that humans really need water to live? One human body is made up mostly of

water which is about 70% . The water that is consumed through food and liquid travels

throughout the organs such as the brain which is known to be the most important organ. Other

purposes of water is to keep the human body in a certain temperature.

Aside from knowing these important facts, the student researcher has chose the topic of

drinking water to write about for an essay. The island of Saipan has sold products of bottled

waters which are made here on the island itself. There are a handful of water companies that

supplies water to not only residents, but also hotels and restaurants. However, the locals are not

aware of where and how water is made. The community cannot tell if the water they drink is safe

for them. The researcher has made it a goal to find the answers of whether Saipans drinking

water is up to par with the EPA standards.

Literature Review

On the environment protection agency website (EPA), it states the rules and regulations

when it comes to drinking water. The website contains the limitations of the 90 contaminants in

drinking water. The states in the United States follows the Safe Drinking Water Act that is quite

similar to the EPA standards. While on the CNMI bureau of environmental and coastilality
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quality website, the law that they follow is the Commonwealth Environmental Protection Act. A

report of the drinking water regulations can be viewed and downloaded. The report includes the

rules and violations pertaining to law.

In one newspaper article from Marianas Variety, Todino informs the community here on

Saipan the seven villages that does not have safe water. This occurred around the month of June

in the year 2017. In a quote, Camacho who is CUCs executive director states that the tap water

should not be consumed or used to cook rice. Water samples were done and found that the

concentration of PFOS was 120 parts per trillion which exceeded the health advisory limit of 70

parts per trillion (Todino, 2015, p.1).

However in a newspaper article from Saipan Tribune, it announces with a headline that

tap water is drinkable. After running water samples, CUC has passed the water quality

guidelines on June 13. The water comes from wells and springs. To ensure the water was safe,

Gilmore (deputy executive director) says, There are contaminants in the water source that are

not harmful, like chlorine. We use chlorine to treat the water and make sure that pathogens

(bacteria, virus and other microorganism) are eliminated. After treatment, we also rely on residue

that remains in the water because it helps keep the pathogens and contaminants out. A low dose

of residual elements is not harmful, (Cabrera, 2017, p.1, para 6). The water quality report made

by CUC is a requirement and an obligation that was set by the EPA since the year 1996. The

water is report is available for the public to see and be informed (Cabrera, 2017).

Out of the four literature sources the researcher reviewed, about 2 is the most valid.

Government websites such as EPA and CUC provides the most valid information and has the

best credibility. Information and facts are included in the reports and also includes regulations
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like laws to be followed. While the newspaper articles can be a little bias and not have all the

information needed. The literature the researcher have found so far has helped the researcher

answer the research question because the researcher can view the annual water reports from

CUC. The articles provided the researcher information that CUC sometimes has water problems

with contaminants and the steps they do to ensure the community has safe tap water.

Method

The researcher has set up an interview with Interviewee 1 to gather data. The researcher

interviewed the participant for about an hour. The interview was informal for the questions were

asked that were not prepared. The interview was more like a conversation than an interrogation.

The researcher had the chance to ask 8 questions. The questions asked were more about how

drinking water goes through a process. The interview was not recorded, but the researcher took

down notes while they talked (See Appendix A for interview questions).

For data collection a mini experiment the researcher has done is a water taste test with

fellow classmates in class. A water taste test where they compare which one is more to their

liking. Before doing this taste test, the researcher has prepared materials such as five different

drinking water, 4 made here on Saipan and 1 Fiji water. The 4 water were: Star Water, Saipan

Ice and Water, Tap Water, and Reverse Osmosis Purified Water. The five drinking water were in

separate containers that was labeled by the letters A - E therefore the participants cant see the

name brand. The participants took turns on pouring their own cups with water and evaluating

them. Aside from this taste test, the researcher had come up with questionnaire questions to be

answered (see Appendix B). Questions can they can relate and easily answer and give opinions.
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Afterwards the researcher had brought to class a pack of pH level papers available for

purchase at Ace Hardware. This pH paper is actually for pool water, but the researcher used it to

compare the pH of 5 different drinking water here on Saipan compared to one water bottle from

mainland which is the Fiji water bottle. While doing the test, the researcher has recorded the

procedure by taking pictures for evidence for later preference. The ph paper took about 15

seconds dipped into the cup of water. The experiment was timed to get accurate results.

And lastly, one other method the researcher has done is an online survey (see Appendix

C). The survey consists of a mixture of ranking, open-ended, and multiple choice. The survey

has a total of 10 questions. Before the final survey was emailed to peers, the researcher has made

a pilot survey. The pilot survey was peer-reviewed and criticized for improvement. After editing

and changes, the link of the survey from Survey monkey was shared to college students at

Northern Marianas College. The first question is a demographic questions for the researcher to

see what age group and sex has responded to the survey. The last question was a open answer

question meaning the answer cannot be measured.

Analysis

The first method the researcher has done is an interview. Interviewee 1 was someone who

samples and test drinking water here on Saipan. The researcher gained knowledge of how

drinking water is really made. It comes from the r.o systems finish product which came from

raw water that filters out the chlorine and other types of waste. The raw water can be cuc water

or a deep well. The difference between is that the cuc has been process and filter out some of it

bacteria while deepwell is categorize as ground water and needs several process to make eligible
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to drink. (see Appendix A, question 2). The researcher finds a shocking fact that water contains

chlorine before becoming a product even though water is not suppose to have chlorine. The

interviewer (researcher) utilized the interview to have a better understanding of the mechanics

used to produce drinkable water.

After analyzing the interview, the researcher analyzed the result of the water taste and the

ph level experiment. The number of participants that took part of the experiment was 10 people.

The age group was between 18 to 45. The majority of the participants were females about 8 out

of 10. The researcher tallied by marking down how many circled what letter and how many

underlined the letters. The researcher did this in a notebook by just marking. The results shows

that majority could identify the tap water, however they could no identify the Fiji water. Looking

at the results 50% of the participants circled Water A which was Saipan Ice Sparkle Clean water

and 60% underlined Water C for Tap water. As the researcher reads the comments of the water,

the participants described Water C as bad water odd taste and horrible. The other 4

participants who did not choose Water C as tap water, underlined Water B and Water D. Water

A and Water E did not get underlined. For the Fiji water that was the off-island one, Waters B,

D, and E were circled. Water B was the Fiji water, but only 2 out of 10 got it correct.

As for the ph paper level test, the results were clear. The ph level paper quickly changes

color after dipping in the water. After 15 seconds, the researcher took out the paper and placed it

on the table. The researched then took a picture as a documentation. This process was repeated

five times with the rest of the waters. Looking at the pictures, the researcher saw the difference

between the five waters. 2 out of the 5 waters showed a different color range compared to the

rest. Water B and C had similar color ranges in the ph level paper, while the rest of the Water A,
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D, and E had really similar results. The only similarity all five water had in common was low

chlorine, the color was close to white for all five. Now Fiji water and the tap water came out to

be the outcast and showed different and darker colors close to purple and red. The pH for Fiji

and tap water was 8.4, while the rest were just between 6.2 and 6.8. Alkalinity and cyanuric acid

was more present in Waters B and C (see Appendix D).

Besides the mini experiments, the researcher also analyzed the survey results. The

website Surveymonkey has already analyzed the results for the researcher. A total of 26

respondents answered the survey. The gender census is 17 females and and 9 males. The age

group that took the survey was between 16 to 28 and above, mostly teenagers. With the survey,

the researcher finds that they are not aware of what EPA is. Also a shocking result that around

63% of the respondents prefer water from Saipan rather than in the mainland (see Appendix E).

Discussion

The researcher suggests to future researchers who are curious also on the topic of

drinking water to plan ahead and prepare well. The researcher had weaknesses and the

experiments had limitations. For literature, the researcher could have found more sources and a

background on the topic. Lack of sources and interviews with expert. To future researchers,

manage your time well and a tentative schedule to follow. Make appointments and send out

invitations for interviews to have more time to do follow-up questions.

For the experiments with limitations, the five water cannot generalized all water types in

Saipan. Not all company water were test and did not test under warm temperature like under the

sun. If given the time and opportunity, the researcher would have tested as much as she can.
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Thus, the survey also had little respondents. If the survey link was share around campus, then the

results would have been better.

Conclusion

The research itself was simple to complex. The researcher failed to answer the research

question of how does Saipans drinking water compared to the EPA standards. The EPA website

provided the regulations and there was a lot to view. The interview with Interviewee 1 could not

answer questions of which water company is the best and the worst due to confidentiality. If

given the answer, then those companies can ran out of business. And the survey was no help to

the researcher. The survey was to see the peoples opinions and see their consuming patterns.

The researcher may have failed to answer the research question, but the researcher gained more

knowledge about water quality and how water is filtered.

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References

Cabrera, Bea. (2017 June 13). CUC: Tap water is drinkable. Saipan Tribune.

Ghose, Tia. (2015 September 29). Why water is so essential for life? Live Science: Purch.

Todino, Junhuan. (2017 June 20). CUC says water in 7 villages unsafe. Marianas Variety:

Younice Art Studio.

No Author. Drinking Water Regulations. Retrieved from

https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/drinking-water-regulations

No Author. CNMI Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality regulations. Retrieved from

http://www.deq.gov.mp/sec.asp?secID=44
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Appendices

J. Dalawampu

Northern Marianas College

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Appendix A - Interview

Interviewee 1 :
1. What is your job and what do you do?
a. I work in a company that has a laboratory used to sample drinking water around
the island. Not too long ago have I just started on the job, so currently my work is
to help my colleagues. There are times when I go out to restaurants and even
hotels to get a sample of their water.
2. Where does our drinking water come from?
a. It comes from the r.o systems finish product which came from raw water that
filters out the chlorine and other types of waste. The raw water can be cuc water
or a deep well. The difference between is that the cuc has been process and filter
out some of it bacteria while deepwell is categorize as ground water and needs
several process to make eligible to drink.
3. Why are there different types of drinking water such sa distilled, purified, alkaline, and
etc. ?
a. Because these waters come from several processes and each of them has its own
ways of methods.
4. Do you know what EPA stands for and what it is?
a. EPA stands for environmental protection agency. They are an organization that
protects and is responsible for health of humans and the environment.
5. Can you explain how water is filtered and what type of machine is being used?
a. Public water system uses a machine called reverse osmosis system or r.o system
for short. It pumps the raw water and goes through the membrane. The membrane
filter any scales or waste, the chlorine that resides in the raw water and also the
saltiness. Then goes through the filter for a final filtration.
6. How can we tell if the water we drink is safe?
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a. It has to follow the standard that is given such as the pH and tds has to be low and
also it cannot have any chlorine. Any of these parameters are not meet cannot be
drink and it could affect your health.
7. Can you name a few of the regulations of EPA or DEQ regarding drinking water?
a. Theres a lot and really detailed or specific regulations. You can search it up
online.
8. In your opinion, is the drinking water quality improving here on Saipan?
a. In my opinion becq has been maintaining and monitoring Saipan public water
system to meet the standards so it can be used for the public. Some companies are
required to do a monthly analysis of their water to check if it there's bacteria. Any
reports has to be sent to becq so they can updated on what's the current condition
of the water.

Appendix B - Questionnaire to Water Taste Test

1. Rank the waters you tasted from which you like the most to the least (1 - 5). Underline

the water you think is Tap water and circle the water you think is from the mainland.

2. Can you compare the difference between the water you rank the highest to the lowest and

explain why.

3. From which water company here on Saipan do you usually buy from?

Appendix C - Survey
1. What is your gender
- Female
- Male
2. How old are you?
- 16 - 19
- 20 - 23
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- 24 - 27
- 28 and older
3. What is your favorite water to drink?
4. What are the factors that impact you from buying water products?
- Location
- Price
- Water brand
5. How many times do you buy the water products listed below in a week?

0 1 2 3 4
5-Gallon Water 5-Gallon Water 5-Gallon Water 5-Gallon Water 5-Gallon Water 5-Gallon Water
Bottle Bottle 0 Bottle 1 Bottle 2 Bottle 3 Bottle 4

Specifically where do you buy them?

Water Bottles Water Bottles 0 Water Bottles 1 Water Bottles 2 Water Bottles 3 Water Bottles 4

Specifically where do you buy them?

Ice Ice 0 Ice 1 Ice 2 Ice 3 Ice 4

Specifically where do you buy them?

6. From 1 - 10 how informed are you about where and how drinking water is
made? (10 is very informed to 0 not informed at all)
7. Do you know the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) standards when it
comes to water quality?
- Yes
- no
8. Do you prefer drinking water from the mainland or here on Saipan?
- Mainland
- Saipan
9. About how many cups of drinking water do you drink in a day?
- 1 - 5
- 6 - 10
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- 11 - 19
- 20 - 25
10. Do you think it is important to know how safe the water you drink is and
why?

Appendix D- pH level Outcome

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Appendix E- Survey Results

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