Year of Clean Water:National Water Monitoring Day

Water Testing Kits

National Water Monitoring Day

Select a water body in your area that you want to test where there is easy and safe access to the water.

Register the water body ahead of time at the Year of Clean Water website:http://www.yearofcleanwater.org

Gather volunteers for the event.After your event, enter your data at the

Year of Clean Water website.

Water Monitoring Day Data

The primary purpose of Water Monitoring Day is education: to increase people’s awareness of local water features and of water quality issues.

Data from this two-week event will be used by EPA as a “snapshot” of the nation’s water quality.

Water Monitoring Day Data

The parameters measured with the kits are only a few of the many measures scientists use to evaluate aquatic ecosystems.

Some other important environmental parameters are: nitrogen, phosphorus, metals, water color, conductivity, chlorophyll-a, and dissolved organic carbon.

Water Monitoring Day DataThe test kit used for this event is a

screening tool and is not an approved method for sample collection in the FDEP Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Scientists use more sensitive instruments and methods to measure the parameters measured with this kit.

The data collected will not be used by FDEP for regulation or monitoring.

About Your Test Kit

Your National Water Monitoring Day test kit includes materials to test water for pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and turbidity. These parameters can give you important information about a water body.

About Your Test KitRead the instructions included with the

kit carefully.In addition to the kit, you will also need:

protective gloves for each person helping with sample collection and/or testing,

watch/stopwatch to time tests,pen and paper to record field notes and

results,waste container/bucket, andany other relevant field safety equipment

(e.g., sunscreen, bug spray, first-aid kit).

About Your Test KitBefore you begin,

place the thermometer stickers on the outside of the white sample container, near the bottom.

Place the “Secchi Disk” sticker on the bottom of the inside of the container, off-center.

Note the location of the “fill line.”

Collecting a Water SampleA sample is a smaller

piece of a whole, a representation.

Select a sampling location and device so that your water sample will represent the whole water body.

Your sampling device will probably be the white container included with the kit.

Collecting a Water Sample

Follow the directions included with your kit to collect water.

Fill the container very slowly; make sure the water does not splash or “bubble” into the container.

Fill to above the turbidity fill line so you can use water for other tests first.

Record your test results on a field sheet or in a notebook as you complete each test.

TemperatureTemperature directly affects the rates of

chemical reactions in water and within living things in the water.

Temperature determines the solubility of oxygen in water.

Extreme water temperatures can have toxic effects on aquatic plants and animals.

Follow the instructions included with your test kit to measure water temperature at your field site; record the result.

Dissolved Oxygen

Animals need oxygen to survive.Many aquatic animals such as fish and

dragonfly larvae breath oxygen dissolved in the water.

Groundwater is naturally lower in dissolved oxygen (DO) than surface water; therefore, spring water may have low DO levels.

Too much organic matter in a water body will decrease the DO when it decomposes.

Dissolved Oxygen Follow the instructions

included with your test kit to measure dissolved oxygen (DO) at your field site; the smaller vial is for the DO test.

Take care to not let the water bubble as it flows into the DO testing vial.

Use two tablets from a foil pack labeled “DO.”

Hold the full vial over your waste container when you add the tablets and the cap.

After the tablets dissolve, set the vial in the shade while you wait; the sun and your hands can change the water temperature quickly.

Record the result.

pHpH is a measure of the concentration of

hydrogen ions (acidity) in the water.A pH of 7 is neutral.Lower pH values (0-6) indicate acidic

conditions, and higher pH values (8-14) indicate basic, or alkaline, conditions.

Dark-water systems are naturally more acidic; spring-water systems are naturally more alkaline.

pH

Follow the instructions included with your test kit to measure pH at your field site; the larger vial is for the pH test.

Use one tablet from a foil pack labeled “pH.”

Record the result.

TurbidityLight availability in water is a very important

aspect of aquatic ecosystems.Plants and phytoplankton need light for the process of

photosynthesis.Too many suspended solids in the water can interfere

with animals’ respiration.“JTU” stands for “Jackson Turbidity Units.”

The range of the JTU scale is 0-10.8-10 JTU indicates high turbidity that has the

potential to be ecologically harmful.The method used in the test kit is actually a

measure of light penetration into water, not true turbidity. DEP measures NTUs or Nephelometric Turbidity Units.

Turbidity

Follow the instructions for turbidity in your test kit to measure light penetration at your field site.

Remember to hold the comparison card against the top of the container when you are determining the result.

Record the result.

Other Tips…Items to record at your field site include:

name of each person present,name of the water body,description of the field site and weather conditions,type of test kit or meter used, andthe result of each test.

Pour waste into your waste container.Dispose of waste in a sink with a lot of tap

water.Rinse containers and vials with tap water.Allow materials to dry before you store them.

THANK YOUThank you for participating in National Water

Monitoring Day in celebration of the Year of Clean Water!

Don’t forget to enter your results at the Year of Clean Water website:

http://www.yearofcleanwater.orgFor more information, please visit the FDEP

website:http://www.floridadep.org

This presentation was produced by

Amy Wheeler and Shannon Gerardi,

FDEP Environmental Assessment Section.