Scientists+in+Room+12

Today, Suzy from the Otago Regional Council talked to us about Water Testing and pollution in our local water supplies. She came to help us prepare for our trip on Monday.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

Here are the notes we took while she was with us. She gave a lot of useful information! a reservoir is a treatment plant Dunedin’s water comes from the mountains feeding into rivers The Science Team at the ORC tests safety of water, soil, rivers, coasts.

We tested three liquids to find their Ph levels. lemon juice 2 coke 2.5 water 7 acidity (like a lemon) Alkaline is like bleach. We were surprised to find that the coke was almost as acidic as lemon juice!



We wanted to test the quality of our water further… • conductivity of our tap water is “130.” • temperature of our water is 15 degrees. • The average clarity of our water is 0.94m This means that the water from the tap in our classroom is of good quality.

• Conductivity meter – used to find out how well electricity flows through water. • If it flows well (high >150) then contaminants are present. • Sea water reads 3 000. It is not contaminated. • When phosphorous presents itself in the river it increases the reading.

We added a little bit of salt and the meter reading kept rising as the salt dissolved. The reading quickly rose to 650! • The temperature of water is ideal for local fish between 5-20 degrees celcius. • The thermometer needs to rest for a minute in the water.

• Clarity of water is measured by pouring the water into a long tube. Susie moved a black disc away from Michelle’s eye until she could no longer see the disc. We tried out the test on a few people and then worked out the average. Toby 0.86m Malissa 1.0 Quinn 1.0 Mitchell 0.89m Harry 0.88m Sam 1.0m

The average clarity of our water is 0.94 - GREAT!

• When dirt, pollution, waste gets into the water, the clarity of water will change.

• a teaspoon of dirt changed the clarity of our water. It read 30-40 metres.

Microscopic animals are in water eg. May flies, snails. On Monday, we are going to study the quality of the water in the Leith by investigating microscopic life forms present. • If the quality of water is good, there will be a variety of organisms will be present. • snails and worms can live anywhere eg. drains • may flies, water boatmen, stone flies are present in good quality water. • the flies’ are at the larvae stage when in the water. • algae in small quantities is okay because it is eaten by … • algae is red and green. • didymo is an algae. It is a pest because it hides food from the fish so they starve. media type="custom" key="1973126"