Water Quality

Color

• Rarely See Clear Water
• Air can Cause Water To Look White
• Color In Water Is Cause By Dissolved And Suspended Components (Like Dirt And Mud)
• The Less Components The Less Color The Water Has
• The Color (Dirt & Mud) Can End Up Blocking The Sunlight From Reaching The Algal

D.O

• D.O Stands For Dissolved Oxygen
• Scientist Study The Amount Of Dissolved Oxygen Because It Can Them A Lot About The Water Quality
• You Know There's Oxygen In Water By The Chemical Makeup Of Water (H2O)
• The Dissolved Water Is Used By Fish In Order To Breath And Live
• Rapidly Moving Water Has More D.O

pH

• pH Is Actually Really Important
• pH Is The Measurement Of How Acidic/ Basic The Water Is
• There Is A pH Scale Going From 0 - 14
• 7 On The pH Scale Is Neutral
• pH Less Than 7 Are Acidic
• pH Greater Than 7 Are Basic

Turbidity

• After It Rains Sediment is Washed Into Rivers And Streams
• The Sediment Make It Look Muddy
• Once The River Opens Up To A Nice Calm Place And The Water Don't Move Much The Sediment Settles Down To The Bottom Of The River
• Turbidity Is Measured In NTU's
• Nephelometric Turbidity Units

Sediment

• After A Storm Some Erosion Could Happen
• Those Eroded Particles Could Get Washed Away By A River
• That's What Sediment Is, Washed Away Rock And Dirt
• And If That Sediment Gets To A Nice Calm Spot And The Water Isn't Moving Fast It Could Sink To The Bottom
• And If It Sinks To The Bottom It Is Called " Bottom Sediment "

Hardness

• The Amount Of Dissolved Calcium And Magnesium Determines The "Hardness"
• Note: Isn't Water Actually Hard It's A liquid
• Harder Water Can Mess Up Machines

Temperature

Sources