Water Testing

In environmental chemistry, I tested water from two different sources for different ions that could potentially harm us.  The first source I tested was the water fountain water in my school.  It all came back negative. So no one is going to die from taking a drink out of the water fountain. That's a plus.  The second water source I tested was from a sulfur creek down the road from where I live. I tested both water sources for carbonate, chloride, chromate, iron III, lead, phosphate, and sulfate. All of which are bad for your health.I expected my creek water to test positive for iron and sulfate, and it did.  YUMMY STUFF!!!!!!  The pollution is point source pollution, it is drainage from the abandoned mines that are everywhere around where I live.  No fish live in this creek, bugs don't even accumulate around it, so the water cant be good.  Think about the disgusting water bugs like to be around.  The creek water is even too bad for the bugs.  We have wells that we used to use for our hose water.  We would use it to give our animals water.  If the mine drainage seeped into the well water, it couldn't have been good for our animals, or anything else that drank the water.  This worries me.



This is the results of my water testing.  The wells on the left side show an example of a fully positive reaction.  The wells on the right show the reaction of my creek water.  You can see the reactions for iron and sulfur are positive.



Chromium III vs. Chromium VI

In environmental chemistry we watched the movie Erin Brockovitch.  The movie is about the court case of  Hinkley vs. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). The people of Hinkley, California were being poisoned with chromium VI in their drinking water. PG&E used chromium VI which causes fatal diseases and health effects such as cancer and infertility, and told the residents that it was chromium III which is vital to the body to avoid heart conditions.  Erin was a single mother and get a job at a small lawyers firm.  While working there she uncovers that PG&E is poisoning the residents of Hinkley by allowing chromium VI to pollute their ground water. Chromium III (good chromium) is vital to your body in small amounts, however, too much of a good thing is often bad, and if you are exposed to too much chromium III it can cause negative health effects.  Chromium VI is all around bad stuff, it can cause a wide variety of cancers, and just about any other disease you can think of.  The movie Erin Brockovitch is based on a true story. I would like to know how people can sleep at night knowing that they could stop the deaths of many innocent people, I surely couldn't.

My Water

I get my water from Mountain Water Association in Smithfield, Pa. and for our environmental chem assignment we had to research what was in our drinking water.  I found out that there are six chemicals detected two of which are above the health limit.  The chemicals are halo acetic acids, trihalomethanes, xylene's, ethyl benzene, nitrate, and beryllium.YUMMY!!!! Some of these chemicals can cause injury to the brain, nerves, liver, kidneys, eyes,and reproductive systems.  Some may increase the risk of cancer, and may decrease fertility and cause spontaneous abortion YIKES!!!!  Some have been linked to blood effects including leukemia!!! Now these effects are only possible if you are exposed to these chemicals when they are over the health limit and when they are exposed over time so don't be so scared.  It may not be as bad as drinking sewage.... but if things keep going the way they are, it could soon be that bad.  My water doesn't taste bad, but it does have a light metallic taste to it.  It makes me wonder if I should continue drinking my water. Hopefully i don't die of cancer at age 40 because of drinking something that is supposed to be good for me.  It shows what the world is turning to.