Quality Water Assignment
GROUNDWATER Quality in Pennsylvania. Read the document
"Information for Water Assignment" on ANGEL. Answer the following questions: a). What human activities have affected groundwater in Pennsylvania? Mining, waste storage and management, underground storage tanks, and agricultural activities have all contributed to the degradation of water supply. b). How does Pennsylvania monitor groundwater supplies? They monitor groundwater supplies by watching wells at municipal landfills, spray irrigation sites, storage tanks, coals mines and hazardous waste sites. They also developed a ground water monitoring program that has three goals, measure ambient ground water quality, provide an indication of long-term ground water quality trends resulting from land use practices and by assessing the success or failure of land management practices. c). What percent of the samples monitored exceeded drinking water standards? 10-25 percent. d) How many people in PA rely on groundwater? 25 percent of people in PA. e) How much groundwater is NOT tested or characterized? About 90%.
Your DRINKING WATER. Obtain a copy of your Water Quality
Report then answer the following questions. List your address and your water company. My address: 919 Jenkintown Road Elkins Park 19027 Name/Address of my water company: AQUA b). Find out the SOURCE of your water (What river, lake, reservoir does it come from? Chester, Ridely, Crum, Pickering, Perkiomen and Neshaminy creeks, the Schuylkill Rover and wells in the Main Division. Is some GROUNDWATER (water from wells) used? Yes. c). Study the latest copy of your Water Quality Report Read the key and define the following terms: MCL:Maximum Contaiminant Level is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water, MCL's are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best available treatment technology. Some are based on a running annual average.
MCLG: Maximum Contaminant Level Goal is the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for margin a of safety. Four different contaminants that I found in my water are Nitrate, Combined Radium, beta/photon emitters and trichloroethylene. Nitrate: MCLG is 10; it doesn't exceed the MCL, which are also 10. The sources come from ronoff fertilizer use, leaching from septic tanks, sewage and erosion of natural deposits. Combined Radium: MCLG is 0; it does exceed the MCL, which are 5. The sources come from erosion of natural deposits. Beta/Photon Emitters: The MCLG is 0; it does exceed the MCL that is 50(a). The source comes from the decay of natural and man-made deposits. Trichloroethylene: The MCLG is 0; it does exceed the MCL that is 5. The sources are discharge from metal degreasing sites and other factories. In my opinion, water supplies are good for us to help us get most of the contaminants out of the water to help stop diseases. My water supply is really good, we haven't really had a problem with is since I was little when there was too much lead in the water and I was told that I had lead poisoning and was taken to the hospital to get help. I don't believe that we are taking a good amount of action to help stop these contaminants from even happening. I think we should start to make sure that certain things and actions are stopped to help make our environment a cleaner and safer place. My water isn't as bad as it was when I was little after I moved. Before I had well water, which didn't taste too good and when we wanted to make it taste good we had to take it through two filters of the Brita water system. The quality of my water today is better than ever, it tastes a lot better than actual bottled water.
It's crazy to know how much water has to go through to make it better for everyone and what is actually in the water that makes it bad for you. I'm glad that this issue is being taken care of better than other issues that affect our environment. Hopefully after graduating and
starting a family of my own, my children won't have to go through this and have good drinking water; hopefully there won't be as many contaminants in the water as there are today.