Testing Water Quality at the Beach
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:30 pm
"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.
Blessings,
Alexis
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.
Blessings,
Alexis