Science Labs at Sun Ed High: water test

Monday, August 8, 2016

WATER (Extra Points) -- Questions about the water. What is PPM and PPB?

This List of Activities is for EXTRA POINTS

This set of activities is for extra points

Can I shower in lead-contaminated water?

Yes. Bathing and showering should be safe for you and your children, even if the water contains lead over EPA’s action level. Human skin does not absorb lead in water.

This information applies to most situations and to a large majority of the population, but individual circumstances may vary. Some situations, such as cases involving highly corrosive water, may require additional recommendations or more stringent actions. Your local water authority is always your first source for testing and identifying lead contamination in your tap water. Many public water authorities have websites that include data on drinking water quality, including results of lead testing. Links to such data can be found on the EPA Consumer Confidence Report website.

For more information, see CDC's "Sources of Lead: Water" Web page.

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ACTIVITY: The Video Visit to the Water Testing Lab

1460 West McNab Road, Fort Lauderdale

(1) What does the lady say about TRI HALO METHANES and HALO ACIDS?

(2) What is the cost of the Lead test?

ANSWERS: ______ ($28 per sample)
1 mg/L = 1 ppm.

The Water Testing at Florida Spectrum

(3) What is a Spectrum?

CLICK HERE

(4) Why does the company call itself "Florida Spectrum Environmental"?

(5) How many samples did the company test?

HINT: THE RANK OF THE LAST TEST SAMPLE IS HOW MUCH? ______

(6) What is the RANGE of numbers? (The lowest to the highest)

(a) LOWEST:

(b) HIGHEST:

HINT: Not the highest, not the middle, not the lowest...

A small amount of nitric acid is at the bottom. Fill up the bottle with water. The bottles don't need ice.

Don't get the acid on you. It will bring the pH down to level 2.

Why? Lead sticks to the side of a plastic bottle if the water is not acidic.

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ANSWERS

(6) What is the RANGE of numbers? (The lowest to the highest)

(a) LOWEST: ANSWER 0.00008

(b) HIGHEST: ANSWER 0.0014

Not the highest, not the middle, not the lowest...

The lowest is 0.00008 milligrams per liter

The highest is 0.0014 milligrams per liter

ANSWER: The 100th Percent is the highest number.

The 90th percent is above the middle

0 --------25-----------50----------75--------90-----100

| | |

LOWEST X HIGHEST

0.00008 | 0.0014

0.0010 is the 90th percent

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one milligram in 1 liter is 1 part per million

This is the same as grams per 1,000 liters, which may be converted to milligrams per liter (mg/L). Therefore, 1 g/ m3 = 1 mg/L = 1 ppm. Likewise, one milligram per cubic meter (mg/m3) is the same concentration in water as one microgram per liter(ug/L), which is about 1 ppb.

1 milligram per liter = 1000 micrograms per liter

0.0014 mg per liter x 1000 micrograms/liter = 1.4 micrograms per liter

one microgram per liter(ug/L), which is about 1 ppb.

0.00140 high 1.40 parts in 1 billion

0.00008 low 0.08 parts in 1 billion

CONCLUSION:

EXTRA INFORMATION

(If you want to know more, you can look below this RED LINE

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Lead in the water in Flint, Michigan

Highlights

Feb. 25: Tests Show High Lead Levels In Home

A city test "reveals high lead content in the water of a Flint resident's home." As Michigan Radio reported, the water at Lee Anne Walters' home "turns up with a lead content of 104 parts per billion. Fifteen parts per billion is the [Environmental Protection Agency]'s limit for lead in drinking water."

In April, Walters says her child was diagnosed with lead poisoning. An independent test done by Virginia Tech researchers finds lead levels at 13,200 ppb — water is considered hazardous waste at 5,000 ppb.

Oct. 13: General Motors Stops Using Flint River water

General Motors says it will stop using Flint River water, fearing corrosion in its machines. "Because of all the metal ... you don't want the higher chlorine water (to result in) corrosion," GM spokesman Tom Wickham tells MLive. "We noticed it some time ago (and) the discussions have been going on for some time."

MORE ANSWERS from above

(1) What does the lady say about TRI HALO METHANES and HALO ACIDS?

In the video she explains:

It starts with ascorbic acid to take the chlorine out of the solution (minute 0:46) Then Hydrochloric acid is added to hold the trihalomethane in solution. It expands the "hold time" from one day to 14 days with acid. At 1:30 the camera guy says "the methane tries to leave the solution."

(2) What is the cost of the Lead test?

ANSWERS: ($28 per sample)

1 mg/L = 1 ppm.

The Water Testing at Florida Spectrum

(3) What is a Spectrum?

ANSWER: see the WIKIPEDIA answer

In the 17th century the word spectrum was introduced into optics by Isaac Newton, referring to the range of colors observed when white light was dispersed through a prism.

DICTIONARY: a band of colors, as seen in a rainbow, produced by separation of light.

(4) Why does the company call itself "Florida Spectrum Environmental"?

ANSWER: a spectrum is from 0 to infinity, from a low number to a high number, from little to big. "We test many items" could be another way of saying, "We have a full spectrum of options."

(5) How many samples did the company test?

HINT: THE RANK OF THE LAST TEST SAMPLE IS HOW MUCH? ______ ANSWER: 34

WATER FIELD TRIP: Water Test and McNab Road: A visit to a testing lab in Fort Lauderdale. Tri halo what??

Mr. Steve! You write too much!

ACTIVITY 1
Call Mr. Kelly
Read his email messages and create a list of at least two questions.

Begin the conversation by introducing yourself.

Mention your teacher, Mr. Steve, and say, "I'd like to thank you for being so helpful to our school."

Then you can report the results of the test. Ask Mr. Kelly "What does the city do to keep lead out of the city water?"

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I'm a teacher at SUN ED High school and we want to do a science class about Lead in the water. We want to compare the number of particles in Margate city water with the numbers in Flint, Michigan.

Please send us any reports that will help us and our students evaluate the water quality. SWAPP is mentioned in the Water Report.

We found your email address in the 2015 Margate water quality report. http://www.margatefl.com/ccr2015/2016_CCR_2015_V5.pdf

EMAIL #1

Hi Steve,

What a great idea. Our department tries to assist our local schools whenever possible. Water conservation is probably the most common topic, but occasionally we get asked about other topics as well. Our chief chemist provided me with the results of our most recent lead sampling, which is attached. I believe Dr. Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor, has a website with many of his findings regarding Flint water and the lead levels his research team found there.

We send the samples (taken from inside buildings) that undergo lead testing for compliance with the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule to an outside laboratory and have to pay for each test. If you are interested in testing the school’s water fountains you could use various laboratories, the name of the one we use is at the top of the attachment. If customers have general complaints about the water, we test for basic parameters such as pH, hardness, chlorine residual, turbidity, iron, color, and alkalinity, but test samples are taken outside the building so that interior plumbing does not affect the results.

The SWAPP program is for source water, which for the City of Margate is the Biscayne Aquifer. The program identifies and assesses potential contamination sources to the aquifer (e.g. landfills, underground fuel storage tanks, dry cleaning facilities) so you will not find lead testing results from that program.

Good luck with your class!

Kelly

Kelly McAtee, P.E., LEED A.P.

Engineering Manager

City of Margate Department of Environmental & Engineering Services

901 NW 66th Avenue, Suite A

Margate, FL 33063

kmcatee@margatefl.com

Phone: (954) 972-0828

Fax: (954) 978-7349

Office Hours: Mon-Thurs (8 a.m. - 6 p.m.)

EMAIL #2

Hi Steve,

Honestly I don’t know if we get a discount, but we use that lab for a number of different types of tests. I would suspect if you test for lead that you will get very low levels so it might not be necessary to test for anything else unless you find higher lead level and want to find out why. Some of the water characteristics that increase lead leaching from lead pipes (which you probably don’t have) and solder are softer water, more acidic water, higher dissolved oxygen levels, higher chloride concentration, and higher temperature.

Kelly

Kelly McAtee, P.E., LEED A.P.

Engineering Manager

City of Margate Department of Environmental & Engineering Services

901 NW 66th Avenue, Suite A

Margate, FL 33063

kmcatee@margatefl.com

Phone: (954) 972-0828

Fax: (954) 978-7349

Office Hours: Mon-Thurs (8 a.m. - 6 p.m.)

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ACTIVITY 2 compare the LEAD LEVELS in the CITY WATER (tested at the plant) with the LEAD LEVELS taken from the water fountain.

City water
at plant 1.8 ppb (Oakland)
City water
at plant 0.001 ppb (Margate) LINK

at Oakland
drinking fountain 2.1 ppb <<<< what could be going
on in Oakland?

at Margate
drinking fountain 1.2 ppb

What is the federal maximum level?

Oakland Park Water Report

CLICK HERE for MORE INFORMATION (extra points)

If lead concentrations exceed an action level of 15 ppb or copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10% of customer taps sampled, the system must undertake a number of additional actions to control corrosion.
After you filter the water through ZERO FILTER, how many parts per billion does the literature tell us?

ACTIVITY

Listen to the video from Florida Spectrum and write the steps that will be taken to capture the water from our school's drinking fountain.

What is the nitric acid for?
a) For the Trihalomethane test, why is ascorbic acid added?

b) Why is this followed by Hydrochloric acid (HCl)?

c) What does the lady say in the video about the procedures for testing three different items?

d) What do tri halo methanes do to the human body?

e) What effect does lead have on the human brain?

ANSWERS
The acid stabilitzes the volatile tri halo methane and keeps the gas in solution.
"I just work here."
"I think you are wrong, Mr. Steve."
"That sounds like a reasonable explanation."
"I'm not a chemist."
"I close this place in an hour and there's a sweet little coffee shop around the corner.
Would you like to get a bite to eat around 6:15pm?"
Cause cancer.
Cause the brain to act more slowly.

GO HERE