Drinking Water Quality Report

Lab 10

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 Objectives

• Be familiar with the city drinking water

quality reports and know how to read them
• Be familiar with the city regulation of main
contaminants in the drinking water report
• Understand how the capacity of fresh water
hold oxygen changes as a result of
temperature and pollution 2
 Water Cycle

• Water is continuously renewed and recycled

through the hydrologic cycle
• The water cycle: when water moves through
biotic and abiotic components of the
environment as a liquid, a solid and a gas
• Video about the water cycle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al-do-HGuIk 3
 Evaporation-Transpiration
• Evaporation: The transformation of liquid water
from earth’s surface (lakes/water body) into the
atmosphere (gas)
• Transpiration: is the release of water as a vapor
through the leaves of plants
• Evaporation and transpiration distill the water
and remove any minerals creating pure water
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 Precipitation-Runoff

• The water vapor mixes with components of the

atmosphere and is carried by air currents until it
deposited back on Earth as precipitation
• Precipitation: is condensed water vapor that
falls to the earth’s surface
• The rain can be taken up by plants, animals or
allowed to reach surface water bodies as runoff
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 Ground water-Surface water

• Some precipitation along with surface water

infiltrates the soil to recharge aquifers
• Ground water: the supply of fresh water under
Earth’s surfaces that is stored in underground
aquifers
• Surface water and ground water are
interrelated parts of the hydrologic cycle 7
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 Distribution of the world’s water
• Although water may seem to be abundant on
earth (75% of earth’s surface is covered in
water), about 97.5% of it in the oceans is salty
and not available for use
• The remaining 2.5% that comprises fresh water
79% is frozen in glaciers and ice caps, 20% is in
underground aquifers and only 1% is on the
earth surface (lakes, rivers, soil, atmosphere)
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 Water availability

• Water is not equally distributed across the earth

and people are not distributed across the earth in
accordance with water availability
• Many areas that have high population densities
are poor in water resources
• The problem leads to inequalities in per capita
water resources among and within nations 11
 Water consumption
• Freshwater is a renewable resource
• If we use water faster than it can be
replenished through the hydrologic cycle, then
we will deplete the water resource
• At present much of the water freshwater
consumption is unsustainable
• Video about water consumption:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIaw5mCjHPI
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 Water pollution
• At least 1.7 billion people live in areas of water
scarcity (where water availability per person
is less than 1000 m3 per year)
• The number of people facing water scarcity is
expected to grow to 2.4 billion by 2025
• Over half of the world’s major rivers are
polluted to the point of poisoning the
surrounding ecosystems and threatening the
health of the people who depend on them 13
 Water Quality
• Water quality is the chemical, physical, and
biological characteristics of water
• Characteristics are compared to standards
established by the EPA and the States
• Water pollution can come from both point
and non-point sources
• Video about water pollution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEci6iDkXYw
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 Point Sources of water pollution

• Point sources of water pollution:

an identifiable single source
where pollutants are discharged
• Such as municipal waste water
treatment plant discharge pipe or
a petrochemical facility factory
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 Non-point sources of water pollution

• Non-point sources of pollution: come from

multiple sites over large areas
• The most common nonpoint-sources of
pollution come from pesticides used on
residential lawn, fertilizers runoff from farms
and oil from city streets
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 Surface water pollution categories
• Biological pollution: comes from disease-
causing organisms that live in surface water
• Chemical pollution: a. Natural chemical
pollution b. Artificial Chemical pollution
• Physical pollution: a. Sediment pollution
b. Thermal pollution c. Solid Waste Pollution
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 Biological pollution-disease causing organisms

• Biological pollution: comes from disease

causing organisms that live in surface water
• Most of the diseases associated with
biological pollutants can be controlled by
treating sewage, disinfecting drinking
water and creating and enforcing
government regulations
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 Chemical pollution-natural pollution

• Natural chemical pollution: caused by

phosphorus and Nitrogen (nutrients)
• Rain cause runoff of excess nutrients from
farmland, lawns, into nearby water bodies
• Nutrients can cause eutrophication of surface
water. As nutrients enter waterbody, algae
blooms, when algae die decomposing the dead
algae can consume the dissolved oxygen
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 Chemical pollution-artificial pollutants

• Artificial chemical pollutants: include

pesticides, petroleum products and toxic
chemicals
• These substances poison animals and plants,
alter aquatic ecosystem
• Toxic inorganic chemicals can be reduced by
modifying our industrial process or creating and
enforcing stringent regulations 23
 Physical pollution-sediment pollution

• Sediment pollution: sediment carried by river

can be a pollutant
• Some sediment in rivers can be normal but
increases brought in by mining, real estate
development and poor farming practices
• Can be controlled by using better farming
practices 24
 Physical pollution-thermal pollution

• Thermal pollution: unnatural change in a water

body’s temperature that impacts the amount of
dissolved oxygen (D.O.) the water body can hold
• Warm water hold less oxygen than cold water
• When water is taken to cool industrial facilities
• The water is heated during the process then
returned to the water body (raises the overall temp)
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 Thermal pollution cont.…

• Decomposition of wastes occurs faster in

warmer water which can deplete the DO
• Changes in water temperature affect the
reproductive cycles and respiration rates of fish
• Warm water makes some substances (cyanides
and zinc) more toxic for aquatic animals
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 Solid waste- Ground water pollution

• Solids waste pollution: solids is disposed of by

humans that end up in our water way (tires,
fishing nets, plastic bottles)
• Ground water pollution: is more serious
problem than surface water pollution because it
is longer lasting
• In the US, we pump 60% of our hazardous
wastes underground each year 27
 Sources of Ground water pollution

• Chemicals are broken down at a much slower

rate since ground water has less dissolved
oxygen, microbes, minerals and organic matter
• Sources of ground water pollution: leaking
underground storage tanks , industrial chemicals
and oil and gas, agricultural practices that leach
pesticides and nitrate from fertilizers
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 Drinking water quality

• Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in

1974 to protect the public health
• The EPA sets two types of standards:
• Primary standards: are legally enforceable and
aim to protect public health by limiting the
contaminant level in drinking water
• Secondary standards: are not legally enforceable
and involve contaminants that may cause
cosmetic or aesthetic effect in drinking water
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 Drinking water quality report

• Most municipalities provide their consumers with

annual water quality reports through the city website
• The most current water quality report for the city of
Denton can be found on line at:
• http://www.cityofdenton.com
• http://dallascityhall.com/departments/waterutilities/DCH%20Documents/pdf/water-quality-
report.pdf

• Search water quality report and write a Lab Report

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 Drinking water report

• There are terms in the water report you need to know:

• The maximum contaminant level MCL: the highest
level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water
• The MCL is enforceable standard
• The maximum contaminant level goal MCLG: is the
level of contaminant in drinking water below which
there is no known or expected health risk
• The MCLG is not an enforceable standard
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 Drinking water report
• We disinfect drinking water to remove bacteria,
viruses, and other pathogen that causes diseases
• Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level MRDL
: the highest level of disinfectant allowed in
drinking water
• Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal
MRDLG: the level of drinking water disinfectant
below which there is no known or expected risk to
health
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 Water Quality Analysis

• The objective of this lab exercise is to identify

the main contaminants on your drinking water
and how are they regulated in your city
• Common Contaminants: Nitrate, Lead,
Atrazine, Copper, Chlorine, total coliforms
(bacteria), Chromium, Ammonia,…
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 Nitrates

• Nitrate is a major ingredient of fertilizer

• Nitrates enter drinking water supplies as
runoff from fertilizer or from erosion of
natural deposits
• Both the MCL and the MCLG for nitrates is
10 mg/L in drinking water
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 Turbidity

• Turbidity is a measure of the clarity or

clearness of water
• It has no health effects but it can interfere with
the disinfectant process
• Turbidity can provide a medium for microbial
growth, and turbid water may indicate the
presence of disease causing organisms 35
 Turbidity
• Turbidity is measured in nephelometric
turbidity units (NTU)
• Turbidity can not exceed 1 NTU in drinking
water
• NTU is a unit of measurement =
nepholometric turbidity unit
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 Iron
• Iron enter drinking water from erosion of
natural deposits
• Iron is generally not toxic to humans but high
levels can give water a bitter taste
• Iron can stain laundry, porcelain
• Iron has a secondary drinking water standard of
0.3 mg/L
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 Phosphorus
• Phosphorus is not currently regulated by EPA
• Phosphorus enters drinking water supplies from
erosion of natural deposits
• Human sources of phosphorus: fertilizers, detergents
and sewage
• Phosphates in water bodies stimulate the growth of
algae and aquatic plants → lowered DO level and
fish may die (cause nutrient pollution) eutrophication
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 Copper
• Copper enters drinking water supplies from
the erosion of natural deposits
• Copper is toxic to fish at low levels
• Copper is regulated, the level of copper must
be less than 1.3 mg/L

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 Ammonia

• Ammonia is not currently regulated by EPA

for the drinking water supplies
• Major source of ammonia is due to
decomposition product of materials
containing nitrogen (sewage, fertilizer runoff
and household)
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 Ammonia

• High concentrations of ammonia are toxic to

fish and aquatic organisms
• Ammonia toxicity increases with increasing
pH and water temperature
• EPA recommends that ammonia concentration
do not exceed 0.02 mg/L in fresh water to
protect aquatic life 41
 Silica
• Silica is not currently regulated in the drinking
water by the EPA
• Silica enters water through the erosion of
natural deposits
•

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 Sulfide

• Sulfide is not regulated by the EPA for

drinking water supplies
• Sulfide is a common water pollutant associated
with oil fields, acid mine drainage

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 Chlorine

• Chlorine is a disinfectant that used to control

microbes in drinking water supplies
• Bothe MRDLG and the MRDL are 4 mg/L in
drinking water

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 Cyanide
• Cyanide enters drinking water supplies in
discharge from metal factories, plastic
manufactories and fertilizer
• Both MCL and MCLG are set at 0.2 mg/L
•

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 Chromium
• Chromium enters drinking water supplies
through the erosion of natural deposits
• Both MCL and MCLG is 0.1 mg/L

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 Lab Report 5
• The assignment for this lab is to write a lab
report about your city drinking water Report
• To identify the main contaminants on your city
drinking water report and compare it with any
other city drinking water report
• Instructions are posted on CANVAS
• Submit your final Lab Report through CANVAS
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