ENV 100 Principles of Environmental Science

Dr. Sandra Knuteson

Drinking Water Quality Lab Handout–Tap water & Bottled Water

Laboratory (in class):

Day 1: Bring to class 1 sample of UNFILTERED tap water from where you live
(run the tap water for a minute, empty & fill the blue cap vessel obtained in class the day before
to the 50 mL line with water from the cold unfiltered tap, then empty & refill a final time)
Get a glass beaker from the desk, record the number in the table below, put 50 mL of sample water in
Fill in the source of the water below
Develop a hypothesis, check with Dr K to make sure it is good
THEN, measure the TDS with the instrument for analysis
Calculate the salt exposure from drinking water, in grams of salt (*using the calculations below)
Record sampling location and TDS in mg/L in excel sheet on computer in classroom

Full Name ___________________________________ ID ____________________ Section ________

Sample location (Sharjah, Dubai, AUS. . . ) TDS

(mg/L)

➢ Water Quality Consideration: UAE and US regulations: TDS below 500 mg/L for
taste; WHO suggests 1200 mg/L maximum for health
Hypothesis statement:
>>

_________________________________________________________________________________
Health Exposure calculation:
➢ Health Considerations:
< 5 g salt per day (5000 mg)
> 2 L of water per day

TDS= mass salts (mg) / volume water (L) = mg / L TDS

So, if we drink 2 L of water, how much salt are we exposed to?

Calculation: TDS in mg/L x liters of water drunk = mg of TDS

Conclusion Statement (full sentence to support or disprove hypothesis):

>>

_________________________________________________________________________________
Upload to iLearn: Water Quality Reflection. The day after the experiment, Dr K will show whole class
results. Write a reflection on the experiment, using whole class’s data, discuss tap water quality
compared to bottled, thinking how to develop safe drinking water without packaged water.