Water Quality and Contamination: Lab Report

Abstract 

The following experiment utilizes bottled water to find out the differences in chemical composition between tap water and bottled water. In essence, the experiment was to find out how much more mineral elements are contained in bottled water compared to tap water. The health implications given on bottled water were the main motivation for the experiments. In essence, the experiment is comprised of three jars, one with tap water and the other two with branded bottled water. The three jars are used to conduct various mineral tests in order to find out the concentration of minerals in them. The experiment process is conducted by using various testing strips that show the mineral deposits relatively clearly. The hypothesis that the experiment follows is that bottled water contains more essential mineral elements than tap water and thus has significant health benefits. The fact that the bottled water industry is a billion dollar enterprise should excite the question on the authenticity of the claim on health benefits. Following this hypothesis the experiment found no evidence of any added mineral elements in bottled water compared to tap water. Therefore, notion of bottled water having more health benefits was dismissed by the end of the experiment. 

Introduction 

The importance of water to humanity cannot be stressed enough. Consequently, investigations on the quality of water are necessary in order to ensure the safety of one of humanity’s important resources. In the same way, investigation into the different minerals contained in water greatly advances the water bottle industry. For this reason, an experiment was conducted to show the differences between tap water and different brands of bottled water. Such an exploration is important in determining the health benefits or harms brought by bottled water compared to regular tap water. Similar experiments have been conducted in papers investigating water quality of ten major brands and the pollutants they contain (EWG, 2008). In the same way, another investigation by the NRDC explores potential public health implications of bottled water, essentially during manufacture (NRDC, 2010). The sources will aid in reporting the results of the experiment conducted. 

The main objectives of the experiment were to find out the various chemical compound found in bottled water compared to tap water. Essentially, the experiment follows the health benefits, if any, of drinking bottled water compared to tap water. Different tests are conducted to measure mineral elements in two types of bottled water brands. The mineral contents in bottled water are expected to be higher and thus offering more elements. 

The hypothesis that the experiment follows is that bottled water contains more essential mineral elements than tap water and thus has significant health benefits. The fact that the bottled water industry is a billion dollar enterprise should excite the question on the authenticity of the claim on health benefits. It is therefore expected that bottled water will have significantly higher mineral contents. The hypothesis will be proved if the bottled water samples show significant difference. Further, if no differences are noted, the eventual conclusion is expected to be that bottled water has no added health benefits compared to tap water. 

Materials and Methods 

The materials required for the experiment were meant to show parallel results and thus each water sample had the same amount of testing reagent. Essentially, the materials needed for the experiment were Dasani® bottled water; Fiji® bottled water; and tap water. The testing reagents for the experiment were: 4 in one test strips, ammonia test strips, chloride test strips, phosphate test strips, iron test strips. The strips should be about 6 in order to allow error for each. To hold the liquids was required three 250ml beakers as well as three 100ml beakers and one graduated beaker to measure precision of used liquids. Other materials required for the experiment are pipettes, a stop watch, Parafilm® and 3 foil packets of reducing powder. 

Results 

Below are the results of the experiment as observed in the experiment: 

The Ammonia test results showed no differences between the samples. All the samples in the ammonia test showed 0 – 0.50 mg/L of Ammonia. The chloride test gave 0-500mg/L results on all the three samples. Further, phosphate tests showed 0- 10ppm on all the samples tested. Iron tests on all samples showed about 0-0.15ppm on all the three sample of water. In addition to the individual tests, the 4 in one tests showed similar numbers for the three samples in pH, chlorine content, alkalinity and water hardness. The pH levels were between 6-7, alkalinity was 0-40mg/L, chloride was 0-4.0mg/L and hardness ranged from 0-120mg/L for all the three samples. 

Discussion 

Fresh water is an important resource that can be used in many different ways. However, water is more than just a resource. Water is important to the body of every living thing on earth. In essence though, almost all the water on earth is in the ocean making other sources of water—fresh water minimal compared to the salty oceans. In essence, most fresh water has minerals dissolved. Consequently, the minerals present in water have significant mineral elements essential to the human body. In this way, the investigation above showed that there are mineral contents in water but the expectation of higher minerals in bottled water was refuted. 

The experiment like one by Alam et .al , showed that bottled water could contain traces of arsenic in relation to the processing plants that the water was bottled in (2017). This shows that the above experiment is not only important in the investigation of health elements in bottled water but also the implications of potential harmful elements in water. In the same way, the World Health Organization gives clear guidelines on global water quality guidelines (WHO, 2008). The guidelines could be useful in the above experiment to show the limits of mineral content suitable in drinking water. 

Conclusion 

The results of the above experiment showed no significant differences between bottled water and tap water mineral content. For this reason, tap water is concluded to have as much health benefits as store bought bottle water. The experiment is important is removing significant bias on tap water and giving preference to bottle water. The evidence of no difference makes bottle water seem essentially like tap water in a bottle. 

References 

Alam. M. F., Dafader., N.C. Taheri. T & Rahman. N. (2017). Physico-Chemical analysis of the bottled drinking water available in the Dhaka City of Bangladesh. Journal of Materials and Environmental Sciences, Vol 8(3)2076-2083. 

EWG. (2008). Bottle water quality investigation: 10 major brands, 38 pollutants. Environmental Working Group Publication. 

NRDC. (2010). Bottled water: pure drink or pure hype? Natural Resources Defense Council . 

WHO. (2008). Guidelines for drinking-water quality. World Health Organization Publishing.