The Effect of Physical Contaminants on Surface Water Pollution

Overview

Objectives/Goals To test various types of bodies of water from the U.S./Mexican border to the Arctic Ocean in Alaska for physical pollutants and determine if more the more populated areas of the south are more polluted. Methods/Materials Using test kits, test various bodies of water for dissolved oxygen saturation, nitrates, nitrites, turbidity, pH, alkalinity, and hardness. Using a GPS, measure latitude, longitude, elevation for location of sample; also measure air and water temperature for each sample. Results 58 samples were taken; 36 percent (21 samples) were from lakes and other bodies of standing water, 48 percent (28 samples) were from rivers and streams, 4 samples from oceans, 3 samples from geysers, 2 samples from glaciers, and 1 waterfall sample. Dissolved oxygen, nitrates, pH, and alkalinity all indicated higher pollution levels in the south (areas of higher population). Standing bodies of water tended to have more physical pollutants than moving bodies of water. Conclusions/Discussion Pollution levels from physical contaminants are higher in the south in more populated areas.

Competition history

• CSEF 2010 Environmental Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1224

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Environmental Analysis projects
• CSEF Environmental Analysis projects
• Every CSEF 2010 project