Download Monitoring for Sewage - Downtown Magnets High School

Water
Monitoring
When Water Testing…
• Testers look for
many things!
• Turbidity: how
many suspended
particles are in
water (FTU).
• More Turbid 
less PS less O2
in water
High or Low Turbidity?
Low Turbidity
HighTurbidity
Salinity
• How much salt is in
water.
• Ocean = high
salinity
• River = low salinity
• Changing levels will
kill orgs in water.
Salt 
E.Coli Bacteria
• Used as an indicator species to
detect cont. water supplies b/c it’s
found in human/animal feces.
Total Coliform
• Instead of testing for all types of bacteria,
usually total coliform is measured
• 1 colony of bacteria per 100mL is unsafe to
drink (EPA)
Dissolved Oxygen
• O2 in water
• Healthy water = DO >
8 ppm
• Oxygen-poor water
<2ppm; only supports
detritivores
• O2 removed by
respiration, added by
PS!
Colder water
holds more DO!
Detritivores
• Orgs that eat dead
organic matter (dead
leaves, algae, etc)
• Land: termites,
fungus
• Water: shrimp (turds
of the ocean), worms,
snails (dead stuff at
bottom)
I want your Bod…
• Biological Oxygen Demand: demand
for O2 that detritivores place on system
how much O2 is used by orgs over a 5
day period
Nitrates, NO3-
• Plants love NO3 (often limiting resource)!
• Comes from fertilizers and manure
runoff.
• Too much runoff in water causes
eutrophication.
NO3 Cause Blue Baby Syndrome!
• High NO3 in ground water  decreased O2
carrying capacity of hemoglobin in babies
 death
Phosphates, PO4
• Plants love them!
• Use of detergents and manure runoff (car
wash, Windex)
• Causes eutrophication
Guano!
• Contains much phosphates!
Transport of Nitrate and
Phosphate Fertilizers…
• Burns fossil fuels  global warming
Fishies Die When..
1) Sewage/waste added  stimulate O2
consumption by detritivores
2) Algal Blooms: eutrophication kills fish
Kunming, Yunnan
province: Workers try to
clear blue-green algae
from Dianchi lake
Steps of Eutrophication
1. Nutrients (NO3 and PO4) are added
to water
2. Increase in nutrients cause an
algae bloom
3. As bloom progresses, algae begins
to die
4. Dead algae accumulates on bottom
of lake
Steps of
Eutrophication
5) Dead org.
matter supports
a boom in
detritivore pops.
6) Detritivores
rapidly rob
water of its O2,
suffocating most
orgs (like fish)
Controlling Eutrophication
• Biofiltration: NO3 and PO4 removed
by plants before running off
Controlling Eutrophication
• Use PO4-free detergents
• Wash car at a car wash (recycle
H2O, treated water)