Students Initiate Water Quality Investigation
Overview
Why Does The Water Taste So Bad? – The industrious middle school students at Ecole Dr. Bernard Brosseau decided to answer for themselves why the drinking fountain water tasted so foul. They were concerned that the water was not safe to drink.
Investigation
Using the Advanced Water Quality sensor the students took uncontaminated samples from the drinking fountains and carefully measured several parameters including dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and conductivity. The results from these samples were then compared with the Canadian guidelines.
Outcome
The students were pleasantly surprised to discover that the test results were within the recommendations of the Canadian guidelines. Not yet satisfied they decided to contact the Bonnyville water treatment facility where they learned that the source of the foul was most likely due to the chlorine. The students are now trying to raise funds to install charcoal filters on all the drinking fountains. The investigation was recognized as a very special achievement. A document video describing the investigation was submitted to the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition where it was selected as a finalist and earning $20,000 in equipment for the school. Talk about making science real!
PASCO Products
- AirLink PS-3200
- Advanced Water Quality Sensor PS-2230
- SparkVue Software PS-2401 -free for tablets/Chromebooks