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Virtual Water Testing Lab One 1.) What contaminants were found in the surface water samples? What contaminants were found in the groundwater samples?  Surface water: metals, coliform, nitrites, pesticide herbicide  Groundwater: acid, coliform 2.) Why might groundwater and surface water have different contaminants?  Surface water is on the surface, so it might become in contact with different contaminants than groundwater because groundwater is under the ground. 3.) Generally, farmers do not farm and industries do not build factories on the sides of mountains in remote wilderness areas. These areas are usually not highly populated by people. What might explain the high nitrate level in the mountain water in this activity?  The high nitrate level could be due to the amount of bacteria that builds up after the extraction of oil in those areas. 4.) What is pH level, what are its characteristics and how does it contribute to pollution? What chemicals are used in treating low pH levels?  pH level determines the level of acidity. It contributes to pollution by affecting the organisms that live in the water. Some organisms cannot live in water that is too acidic, which will cause them to die off and affect other organisms. Sodium hydroxides are used to treat low pH levels. 5.) Water in an old building, tested recently, showed high copper and iron content, and low pH levels. A water reading taken 20 years before showed low pH levels, but only minimal traces of copper and iron. If none of the new buildings on the same street showed signs of metallic contaminants, but all reported lower than normal pH readings, how might these readings be explained?  As time passes, pipes would rust, and when that happens it would get into the waterways causing the water to be polluted with those chemicals. Water Sample

Acidity pH

Metals (mg/L)

City Lake Mountain Rural Well

4 7 6.8 7 8.2

Copper 0.0006 Iron 0.6 Iron 0.006 Copper 0.0027 Iron 1.44

Nitrates (mg/L) 0.8 0.6 12.4 6.7 0.6

Type of contamination Acid, Coliform Coliform Nitrites Pesticide, Herbicide Metal

Coliform Bacteria (ml) 13 33 0 0 0

Pesticides Herbicides (mg/L) 0.00001 0.0008 0.0001 0.08 0.0004

Treatment Sodium hydroxide Chlorine Chlorine Activated carbon Chlorine

Virtual Water Testing Lab Three: Using Invertebrates to Assess Water Quality 1.) What are four types of water pollution? Define each.  Thermal- When hot water gets released into the environment, creating an unstable environment for the organism that inhabits it  Chemical- when toxins gets into the water  Domestic- from sewage, pesticides  Soil-Erosion- soil flowing into waterways 2.) Which fish species are the least tolerant of water pollution? Which species are the most tolerant? How do you arrive at your conclusion?  The trout species are the least tolerant of water pollution, but the catfish species are the most tolerant to water pollution. I came to that conclusion after I compared the temperature and amount of oxygen in the environment that each fish lived in. The catfish was able to live in most of the environments that I created, but the trout was not able to do the same. 3.) Which invertebrates are the least tolerant of water pollution? Which species are the most tolerant? How do you arrive at your conclusion?  Stonefly nymphs are invertebrates that are the least tolerant to water pollution, and the Midge larvae are the most tolerant. Stonefly nymphs requires a clean and balance oxygen kind of environment, while the midge larvae are able to live any environment that have their food supply. 4.) What might a high level of bacteria indicate about DO levels? What is the relationship between bacteria and water pollution?  When dissolved oxygen levels are high, then that means that there is a high amount of bacteria in that water. When water pollution occurs, typically the amount of bacteria would increase because phytoplankton increases when there is pollution or eutrophication, but after a while, those phytoplankton would die off. When that occurs bacteria would come to decompose of it. 5.) Based on the lab results, what conclusions can be drawn about each site? Which river was the most polluted? How did you arrive at your conclusion?  In site one, the fishes are only able to live in spring and winter time. In site two, they are able to live in all of the seasons. In site three, they can live in all of the seasons except for the summer. Pollution occurs the most in site one because the fish that inhabits that site can only live in an environment that contains little to no oxygen. That site also contains the least variety of fish when compared to the other sites.

Virtual Water Testing Lab Three: Using Invertebrates for Water Indicators pH 2.8 3.1 3.4 3.7 4.0 4.3 4.6 4.9 5.2 5.5 5.8 6.1 6.4 67 7

Species One Population 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 20 Clam

Species Two Population 0 0 0 4 10 12 17 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 Tubifex Worm

Species Three Population 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 Leech

1.) What are the names of the species used in this experiment? Which of these species was the most tolerant of increased acidity in the aquarium? Which species was the least tolerant?  Clams, tubifex worms, and leeches. The tubifex worms are the most tolerant to the increase of acidity in the aquarium, but the clam is the opposite. 2.) Describe how acid precipitation affects ecosystems.  Acid precipitation increases the pH in the ecosystem. Some animals do not do well in high acidity environment which will cause them to die off. That could then affect the other animals that depends of it as a food supply. 3.) What is an indicator species? How are indicator species used to assess pollution levels in the environment?  An indicator species helps indicate the amount of pollution in that environment. When the pH is high, indicator species usually begins to die off or move away. 4.) Suppose you are an ecologist studying the effects of acid precipitation of plant life. Describe an experiment you would perform in order to determine which plant species would be a useful indicator species for acid rain pollution.  I would have four plants. One would be a control, but the rest are going to be exposed to acid rain. I would then leave the plants out in acid rain until one of them start to react to the acidity levels in the rain. When that does occur, I will stop the environment and compare and contrast the plants appearance. 5.) How do the data represented on the Population Bar Graph compare to the data represented in the line graph titled, “Populations of Aquatic Invertebrates at Various pH Levels?"  It represented the amount of organisms when exposed to a certain pH level.