Water Quality Testing

What’s in the Water?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Fecal Coliform Bacteria
Why do we test?
- Bacteria present in the
digestive tracts of humans
and animals
- Can enter the water through
animal waste, untreated
sewage, and septic tanks
- An indication of
contamination and other
diseases

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Fecal Coliform Bacteria
How do we test?
- Place samples of the water in
a Petri dish with agar
- Incubate (leave in a warm
place) for 24-48 hours
- Count the bacteria colonies

Safe Amount:
- None

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Dissolved Oxygen &
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
15
- Dissolved gas in water 14

- Affected by temperature! 13

Dissolved Oxygen (mg/l)

12
- The warmer the water, the
11
less O2 that can dissolve
10
- Plants and animals also use
9
up the oxygen
8

7
0 4 8 12 6
162024 28
32
Water Temperature (C)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Dissolved Oxygen &
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
Photosynthesis: How plants make food!
sunlight
6 CO2 + 6 H2O C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Respiration: How organisms get energy!

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 6 CO2 + 6 H2O

energy

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 BOD - How much is O2
is needed?
- The amount of O2 needed by the living
organisms in the water (plants, animals,
bacteria)

- 4-5 parts per million (ppm) DO necessary

for survival of most fish

- 9 ppm is the average for good fishing

waters

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 BOD - How much is O2
is needed?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 BOD - How much is O2
is needed?
How do we test?
DO - use a test kit to compare
compare colors
BOD - test DO, cover up and leave
for 5 days, test DO again

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Nitrate
- A Nitrogen based compound
- Often comes from fertilizers,
and animal waste (livestock,
fish, birds)
- below 90mg/L is safe for
warm water fish
- Too much can cause algae to
grow quickly, increasing fish,
increasing BOD

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Nitrate

How do we test?
- Use a test kit and compare
color!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 pH
- potential of Hydrogen (pH)
- balance between H+ and OH-
ions in water
- Hydrogen ions (H+) cause
water to be acidic
- Hydroxide ions (OH-) cause
water to be basic (alkaline)
- Scale from 0-14
- 7 is neutral
- Acid: 0-6.9
- Base: 7.1-14
- fish need between 5-9
Thursday, October 29, 2009
 pH

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Phosphate

- necessary for plant and

animal growth
- contained in fertilizers and
animal waste
- can be a problem if there is
too much, because of
increased algae and plant
growth (BOD)

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Temperature
- fish are cold-blooded, which
means their body temperature
is controlled by the water
temperature

- each organism has an

optimum temperature, and
can’t survive if the
temperature gets too far from
the optimum temperature

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Temperature for Life

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Turbidity
- A measure of how much light
can pass through the water
- How “cloudy” is the water?
- Caused by suspended particles
in the water (dirt, algae,
pollution, etc)
- Can block light from reaching
plants
- Too many particles may keep
fish from seeing well, or even
clog their gills
-Measured in JTU
Thursday, October 29, 2009
 Secchi Disc

- Measure of water
transparency
- Related to turbidity
- Measure of the greatest
distance the disc is still visible
when lowered into the water

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Secchi Disc

Thursday, October 29, 2009

 Macroinvertebrates
Macroinvertebrates are small
insects or insect larva
• They are sensitive to changes in
the ecosystem.
• Many live in an aquatic
ecosystem for over a year.
• They cannot easily escape
changes in the water quality.
• They can be collected very easily
from most aquatic systems with
inexpensive or homemade
equipment.
Thursday, October 29, 2009