Practical 1 : Laboratory Water Test

PROBLEM What is the level of water pollution from different sources?

STATEMENT
AIM To investigate the level of water pollution from five different sources.
HYPOTHESIS The more polluted the water sample, the higher the value of B.O.D. of
the water sample.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION

Water pollution is defined as the presence in groundwater of toxic

chemicals and biological agents that exceed what is naturally found in
the water and may pose a threat to human health and/or the
environment (Environmental Pollution Centres, 2017). Additionally,
water pollution may consist of chemicals introduced into the water
bodies as a result of various human activities. Olaniran (1995) defined
water pollution to be the presence of excessive amounts of a hazard
(pollutants) in water in such a way that it is no longer suitable for drinking,
bathing, cooking or other uses. Some of the most commonly occurring
water pollutants are domestic sewage, industrial sewage, detergents,
fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides. According to Owa, F. D. (2013),
the striking consequence is a substantial and immediate drop in the
amount of dissolved oxygen in the water.

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measurement of the

amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) that is used by aerobic
microorganisms when decomposing organic matter in water. The
presence of large number of microorganisms in the water caused high

1
 amount of oxygen is taken during decomposition and respiration. Thus,
the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) level increases. It can be tested
through the decolourisation of methylene blue solution.

Methylene blue is an indicator used in colorimetric testing of water.

It is an indirect indicator for presence of dissolved oxygen which exhibits
a blue colour in a rich oxygen condition. If the surrounding is a reducing
environment, it will convert to a colourless leuco compound. Eventually,
it can be used to figure out if there are any aerobic biological organisms
in the water sample. The more time it takes to decolourise, the lesser is
the quantity of oxygen consuming contaminants. This means the water
is less polluted.

VARIABLES (a) Manipulated : Type of water

(b) Responding : Time taken for methylene blue solution to
decolourise (hour)
(c) Constant : Volume of water sample, Concentration of
methylene blue solution (0.1%)
APPARATUS Syringe, Reagent bottle, Stopper, Stop watch
MATERIALS Drain water, River water, Sewage water, Waterfall water, Paddy’s
Irrigation drain water, Methylene blue solution (0.1%)
TECHNIQUE Decolourisation of Methylene blue solution
PROCEDURE 1. Prepare five bottles of closed reagent bottles.
2. Insert 100ml of drain water into one reagent bottle.
3. By using syringe, transfer 1.0ml of 0.1% methylene blue solution into
the reagent bottle.
4. During the transition, make sure the syringe does not immerse in the
drain water.
5. Close tightly and label the reagent bottle. Do not shake the reagent
bottle.
6. Keep the reagent bottle in a dark cupboard and start the stopwatch.
7. Repeat step 2 to 6 with river water, sewage water, waterfall water and
paddy’s irrigation drain water.
8. Check the colour of the solution in the reagent bottles every 1 hour for
5 hours.
9. Record the result in a table.

2
OBSERVATION, Table 1 : Results from observation
ANALYSIS, Type of Time taken for methylene blue solution to decolourise
DISCUSSION water (hour)
samples 1 hour 2 hours 3 hours 4 hours 5 hours
River water Light Light Very Colourless Colourless
blue blue light
blue
Sewage Blue Blue Blue Blue Light blue
water
Waterfall Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue
water
Paddy’s Blue Blue Blue Very light Colourless
irrigation blue
drain water
Drain water Blue Blue Blue Light blue Light blue

Paddy’s
irrigation
River Sewage Drain Waterfall
drain
water

1st hour
Paddy’s
irrigation
River drain Sewage Drain Waterfall
water

2nd hour

3
 Paddy’s
irrigation
River Sewage Drain Waterfall
drain
water

3rd hour

Paddy’s
irrigation
River Sewage Drain Waterfall
drain
water

4th hour

Paddy’s
irrigation
River Sewage Drain Waterfall
drain
water

5th hour

Theoretically, to identify the value of BOD level in water sample, we

can observe from the time taken for the methylene blue solution to

4
decolourise. The blue colour indicates that more dissolved oxygen in the
water and vice versa. Therefore, high intensity of blue colour shows
more dissolved oxygen and low intensity of blue colour shows less
dissolved oxygen in the water sample. As for time, the faster it takes to
decolourise the methylene blue solution, the higher the level of biological
oxygen demand (BOD) and vice versa. The experiment result we
obtained is consistent with the theory given in which the Biochemical
Oxygen Demand (BOD) is getting higher if there are a lot of
microorganism in the water sample.

From the table and pictures above, we can see that the most
polluted water is river water. This is because it shows the fastest time
taken for methylene blue solution to decolourise. The presence of large
number of microorganisms in the water caused high amount of oxygen
is taken and low intensity of blue colour, thus, the Biological Oxygen
Demand (BOD) level increases. It was taken at Kilang Tebu area in Alor
Setar, Kedah which is near the housing and shops area. The water is
probably polluted by domestic waste from household activities such as
dishwash and washing clothes.

Next, paddy’s irrigation drain water is the second most polluted. This
is because it went colourless at the fifth hour which shows all the oxygen
is used up in the water sample. This is because the surrounding area of
paddy field is damp which promotes the growth and activities of
microorganisms. Ishizawa, S. & Toyota, H. (1960) studied the effects of
moisture content of soils on various types of microorganisms and found
that the greater the moisture content of soil, the more bacteria were
found. Therefore, the BOD level is high.

Drain water which taken from Blok Damai is the third polluted water
samples. It shows light blue on the fourth and fifth hour. This probably
because there were only about less than 100 teacher trainees lived at
the block causing less pollution rather than a housing area. The
domestic waste also less because we did less house chores at the
hostel hence less waste is produced. Besides, it is just a small drain
thus, only small amount of waste is being disposed.

Sewage water is the second less polluted water which taken near
block C of our campus. It is less polluted because the water has

5
 undergone the filtration process hence it contains less waste. It also has
no unpleasant smell and murky looks. Therefore, it has less
microorganisms content and less demand of dissolved oxygen.

Lastly, waterfall water is the least polluted water samples. It was

taken at Cheruk Tok Kun which is a natural recreational place. The water
sample is from the flowing waterfall which is not contaminated as it does
not stagnant in one place. Therefore, less waste is found and less
microorganism in the water sample which results in low BOD level.

The weakness found during conducting the experiment is during the

early stages, we used dilute methylene blue solution. It caused the blue
colour to show a little difference when being added into the water
samples. We cannot identify the major changes of colour because it
already shows light blue colour. Then, we changed to more concentrated
methylene blue solution and it shows a good colour difference over time.
Therefore, in future, we need to calculate the concentration or
percentage of solution precisely before conducting the experiment. In
addition, good sampling is necessary if want the results to be
accurate. The sample must be collected properly, handled carefully and
preserved correctly to maintain its quality.
CONCLUSION Level of water pollution from five different sources :
River water (most polluted) – paddy’s irrigation drain water – drain water
– sewage water – waterfall water (least polluted)
REFERENCES Environmental Pollution Centers. (2017). What Is Water Pollution?
Retrieved from Environmental Pollution Centers:
https://www.environmentalpollutioncenters.org/water/
Ishizawa, S. & Toyota, H. (1960). Studies on the microflora of
Japanese soil. Bulletin National Institute of Agricultural
Sciences (English Summary), 204-284.
Olaniran, N. S. (1995). Environment and Health: An Introduction.
Environment and Health, 34-151.
Owa, F. D. (2013). Water Pollution: Sources, Effects, Control and
Management . Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 4
No 8, 65-68.

6
APPENDICES

Picture 1 : The apparatus and materials used in this experiment.

Picture 2 : Transferring the methylene blue solution into the water samples.

Picture 3 : The water samples from five different places.