Water Quality

Question 1

Why is water important?

Answer 1

-water = most abundant substance on earth
- water = weird (doesn’t behave like other chemical substances do)
-essential to life → cellular/metabolic processes → the ecosystem level

Question 2

Watershed

Answer 2

land masses that water moves through on its way to something (drains into a stream, stream system, lake, reservoir, or other large water body)
- occurs at various stages
-drainage basin

Question 3

What are the 10 things that determine water quality?

Answer 3

1. Temperature
2. pH
3. Dissolved Oxygen
4. Biological oxygen demand
5. Fecal Coliform Bacteria
6. Total Nitrates
7. Total Phosphates
8. Turbidity
9. Conductivity
10. Total Solids

Question 4

Temperature

Answer 4

• easy to measure
• effects other things → dissolved oxygen etc.
• important because most living organisms can only handle certain temp ranges

Question 5

pH

Answer 5

• measures acid ph<7 or basic pH>7 nature of substance
• measure of acidity or baseness of something + negative log scale
• range 0-14
• based on logarithmic scale of concentration of hydrogen ions
  
  • a change in one pH unit means a tenfold increase or decrease in acidity
• 7 = the middle → neutral
  
  • go towards 0 = acidic, go towards 14 → basic

Question 6

Dissolved Oxygen

Answer 6

• absolutely required for aquatic organisms to survive
• Daily fluctuations/seasonal fluctuations
  
  • phoyosyhtensis
  • wind, diffusion from air
  • temperature
• aerobic respiration → way for cells to make energy
  
  • ATP → energy source goes through metabolic reactions → co2 + water → makes ATP
    
    • Cannot happen without o2
• organisms = different sensitivity to oxygen levels

Question 7

Fecal Coliform Bacteria

Answer 7

• gut bacteria found in warm blooded animals
• living things/organisms = bacteria
• colonies = dark purple
• a lot of fecal coliform → could indicate sewage leak, sign of disease causing bacteria
  
  • big colonies = mean other things are growing in water source

Question 8

Total Nitrates

Answer 8

• A form of nitrogen (ammonia)
  
  • used to build proteins
• necessary for life but over abundance can cause Eutrophication
  
  • increase in nutrients in water → alate grows
    
    • oxygen = depleted when algae die → can cause death of other organisms → dead zones
• main sources
  
  • sewage
  • fertilizers
• limiting nutrient
  
  • not as much to go around as needed → nitrogen = all over the place in atmosphere
  • take atmospheric nitrogen → fix it (make it useful)
  • convert to nitrates
  • only as much available as bacteria can convert → short supply
  • more limiting in saltwater v. freshwater

Question 9

Total Phosphates

Answer 9

• necessary for life
  
  • primary building block of ATP
• Usually a limiting factor in freshwater
  
  • taken up very quickly in aquatic systems
  • can also cause algal blooms and eutrophication

Question 10

Turbidity

Answer 10

• a measure of water clarity
• suspended particles in water can absurd sunlight + increase temp of water
  
  • can block gills of fish and other organisms, may change organism behavior
  • can block sunlight from reaching plants, decreasing photosynthesis (DO levels decline)

Question 11

Conductivity

Answer 11

• measure of waters ability to conduct current/electricity
• correlate to salinity (saltiness)
• the more dissolved ions, the greater the conductivity
• pure water mat actually a great conductor of electricity
• can give info about water quality ⇒ pollution → increase or decrease in conductivity