Testing Water Quality at the Beach

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MissyOopsyDaisy
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:12 pm
Occupation: Student

Testing Water Quality at the Beach

Post by MissyOopsyDaisy »

"One day my family and I decided to pack up and head to the beach with some friends. When we got there, we discovered a beautiful treasure of a beach with calm blue waters and tide pools jam-packed with crabs, barnacles, fish, sea hares, and sea stars. Another discovery was that there was a pond with tons of cattails and other swamp plants nearby. A stream of clear-looking but funny-smelling water was flowing straight from the slimy water of the pond into the ocean and our precious marine life.
After doing a little investigation, we realized that this water was sewage runoff that had been “filtered” by the plants in the swamplands. We were a little suspicious and my dad said that he really didn’t think it was actually clean.
Our question naturally was:
Is this sewage runoff threatening wildlife in the ocean and more toxic compared to seawater from other beaches or are these swampland plants taking care of filtration the natural way?"
This is my topic. My question is:
1. Is this topic very difficult or expensive? If so, do you think it would be a good idea for an eighth grader's first science fair topic?
2. What kind of water quality test kit should I buy? I plan to test about six different kinds of seawater with a reliable test kit and I also have a narrow budget...
3. Should I ask for the numbers or pH of uncontaminated salt water at a pet shop like Petco and compare it to that?
4. How much do you think this will cost?
5. Do you have any advise for me?
Sorry for the trouble and thank you very, very, very much for your time. :D

Blessings,
Alexis
jskanderson
Former Student Expert
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2016 8:50 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: Testing Water Quality at the Beach

Post by jskanderson »

MissyOopsyDaisy wrote:"One day my family and I decided to pack up and head to the beach with some friends. When we got there, we discovered a beautiful treasure of a beach with calm blue waters and tide pools jam-packed with crabs, barnacles, fish, sea hares, and sea stars. Another discovery was that there was a pond with tons of cattails and other swamp plants nearby. A stream of clear-looking but funny-smelling water was flowing straight from the slimy water of the pond into the ocean and our precious marine life.
After doing a little investigation, we realized that this water was sewage runoff that had been “filtered” by the plants in the swamplands. We were a little suspicious and my dad said that he really didn’t think it was actually clean.
Our question naturally was:
Is this sewage runoff threatening wildlife in the ocean and more toxic compared to seawater from other beaches or are these swampland plants taking care of filtration the natural way?"
This is my topic. My question is:
1. Is this topic very difficult or expensive? If so, do you think it would be a good idea for an eighth grader's first science fair topic?
2. What kind of water quality test kit should I buy? I plan to test about six different kinds of seawater with a reliable test kit and I also have a narrow budget...
3. Should I ask for the numbers or pH of uncontaminated salt water at a pet shop like Petco and compare it to that?
4. How much do you think this will cost?
5. Do you have any advise for me?
Sorry for the trouble and thank you very, very, very much for your time. :D

Blessings,
Alexis
Hi Alexis,

Our sincere apology that SciBuddies Experts could not answer you sooner! This seems like a great project, especially if this is your first science fair topic! This will most likely require a bit of research & data collection, but it's definitely not something you can't handle :) You will need to research what exactly constitutes sewage runoff and sea water so that you have a good method of comparison.

What is your range of budget for this project? I can ask other Experts and run searches on affordable water quality testing kits once I know of your budget!

If you are testing whether the swampland plants are actually filtering water and making the water suitable for seawater life, search up the pH & other properties of regular, uncontaminated sea water, yes! Petco would be a good place to start just because the store has cared for marine/seawater fish, but you could also just do a bit of digging around on Google and find the average pH / other properties of normal sea water.

This project could be slightly expensive if it involves a lot of water testing (which unfortunately is needed for data collection)! However, SciBuddies can help you if you think your budget is narrow.

Do be careful when collecting water samples (follow safety guidelines, as always), and make sure that you have your statement of problem, hypothesis, variables (including controls), materials, and procedures before you actually head out and collect data! You want to have a clear plan on how you will carry out this experiment in order to save as much money & time as possible!

This sounds like a great project overall, and I wish you best of luck on it! (Good for you for also asking during the summer, when everyone is usually on vacation)! Please don't hesistate to reach out to SciBuddies if you have any questions/concerns relating to your experiment.

Hope this helped,

JSK
~ Call me JSK :D
"Be the person who you wish to see in the world."
MissyOopsyDaisy
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:12 pm
Occupation: Student

Re: Testing Water Quality at the Beach

Post by MissyOopsyDaisy »

Hi JSK,
Really, really sorry for not answering sooner! My budget right now is around $50-75.
Thank you for your feedback on my idea. I appreciate it.
Blessings,
Alexis :D
TonyLaope
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2017 7:35 pm
Occupation: Other Adult

Re: Testing Water Quality at the Beach

Post by TonyLaope »

Alexis,

Did you already read the online article about EAI Analytical Labs giving out a free kit to test the water at beaches and lakes for coliform bacteria? Check out the following link:

[removed by moderator]

Tony
MadelineB
Moderator
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Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2014 4:42 pm
Occupation: Biostatistician/Data Scientist
Project Question: Interested in volunteering as an expert
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Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Testing Water Quality at the Beach

Post by MadelineB »

Hello Alexis,
I wonder if you have searched the Science Buddies projects using the search term "testing water quality"?

There are several projects that might help you with procedures and with materials. Each project includes a background section with references and a materials section, with links to where you can obtain those materials.

You can find that link "Project Ideas" in the header to this page.

Do not hesitate to come back with more questions!
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