Chemical Information Table:

Chemical Information Table:
What is this stuff anyway?
The table below provides information about the various chemicals or
compounds you will be measuring in the various water sources. For each
chemical you will find the source (where the chemical comes from and how it
gets in our water), the naturally occurring levels, the safe drinking level, and
also some other interesting facts. Use the table below together with what you learned from the Ballona
Creek lesson to answer the questions on your worksheet.
Chemical/
Compound
How the chemical gets
in the water
Chloride Natural salt formations of
the earth and sewage
Chlorine Used to sterilize and
disinfect drinking water
Nitrate Human and animal waste,
decomposition of organic
matter, lawn and crop
fertilizer and run-off
PH PH is a measure of the
acidity of the water
Phosphate Detergents and soaps and
fertilizers
Hardness Hardness is a measure of
the amount of calcium and
magnesium in the water.
The main source is rocks
and soil
Alkalinity Buffering materials in the
water usually come from by
rocks and soil
Notes Natural levels Safe
Drinking
level
Gives the water a salty
taste
Swimming pools and
spas usually contain a
concentration of 1-
3ppm
When nitrate is high
excessive plant and
algae growth create
water quality problems
PH scale ranges from 0-
14
Large concentrations of
this nutrient may
accelerate plant growth
Levels over 25ppm are
common in waters
having lots of nutrients
and may increase plant
and algae growth
A measure of the ability
of water to neutralize
acids
Less than 500ppm
in freshwater,
35000ppm in
seawater
Not naturally
occurring
Less than 4ppm in
unpolluted water
A freshwater lake,
and the ocean has
a PH of about 8
Less than
250ppm
Less than
0.5ppm
Under 40ppm
6.5-8.2 is
optimal for
most aquatic
organisms
Around 0.02ppm Less than
5ppm
5-50ppm in
freshwater
Levels between 100
and 200 will
stabilize water PH
No
recommended
level
No
recommended
level

Iron Soil and rocks provide a
natural source, but
industrial waste can
contribute to elevated levels
Levels over 0.3ppm
may turn the water a
reddish brown color
0.1 – 10ppm Less than
0.2ppm
What’s in the water? Name:__________________________________
Period:________
Fill in your “what‘s in the water table” with the information collected by your classmates. Use the chemical
information handout and the knowledge you gained from the watershed presentation to answer the following
questions.
Reflecting on your own measurements:
Which two chemicals did you group measure? _______________________ , ________________________
Which four water treatments did your group measure? __________________________,
______________________, ____________________, _________________________
Was the water testing activity easy or hard for you? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Reflecting on the class measurements:
Which water do you think was the most polluted? ___________________________________
Which chemical/s did this water contain?
_________________________________________________________________________
How do you think these chemicals might affect the environment or plants and animals?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
__________________
Did any of the waters measured by your class contain chemicals that were above the safe drinking level? If
so state which ones.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
____________
Below is a list of all the chemicals you tested. Circle all the ones you think would increase plant and algae
growth.
chloride chlorine nitrate phosphate Iron
How do you think the chemicals circled about might get into the water?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Reflecting on the presentation:
What do you think you could do to reduce the amount of water you consume each day?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________
How might the city of LA reduce the amount of pollution and trash entering our local streams and rivers?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_____________
How Does Water Quality Impact Living Things?
Today you and your group will be setting up and experiment to answer the following question:
How does water quality effect the germination and growth of pea seeds?

Follow the instructions below to set up the pea seed germination experiment. Your group will use
filtered water as a control, and also choose three other water sources to test from the 8 tested last
week.
Write your treatment choices below:
Control : ___Filtered water_____
Water 1: ______________________
Water 2: ______________________
Water 3: ______________________
At the end of the experiment you will measure and
record the following data:
- The number of seeds that germinate
- The average height of each shoot
- The number of leaves on each plant
- The number of surviving pea plants
Together with your group make a hypothesis regarding how you think the three water sources you
choose might affect the growth and germination of the pea plants. Remember to be specific. Write
your hypothesis below:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Experiment set up Instructions:
For each water treatment you will do the following:
1. Get a strip of tape that is twice as long as the
sandwich bag.
2. Place 6 pea seeds along the center of the
tape, equally spaced.
3. Fold a piece of paper towel in half twice and
tape you pea seeds to the center of the
paper towel.
4. Place the paper towel in the sandwich bag.
5. Add 25ml of your treatment water to the bag.
6. Label the bag with you period, group number and water treatment.

7. Use the provided sharpie to mark the location of each seed for future reference.
8. Ask myself or Mrs. Peters to assist you in hanging your plastic bag on the wall.
Experiment Data Collection:
Name:_____________________________________
Period:_______
Today you and your group members will be collecting data from your
experimental pea seeds in order to answer the experimental question:
How does water quality effect the germination and growth of pea
seeds?
In order to measure growth of your pea plants you
will be collecting 4 pieces of information,
germination, shoot growth, number of leaves and survival.
Water
Source
Filtered
Number of
seeds that
germinated
Shoot Height (measure to the nearest 1 mm):
Water
Source
Filtered
Seed
1
Seed
2
Number of
germinated
plants
surviving
Seed
3
Seed
4
Count the number of leaves you find growing on each plant:
Seed
5
Seed
6
Sum Average

Water
Source
Filtered
Seed
1
Seed
2
Seed
3
Seed
4
Seed
5
Seed
6
Sum average
Name:____________________________________
Period:___________
Interpreting Results and Drawing Conclusions:
Thinking about our method of data collection...
1. Was any of the data you collected on this experiment difficult for you to
determine or measure? If so state why.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
________________________________________
2. Is there any data that we didn’t collect during this experiment that we could have
used to help us figure out which water treatment was the best?
___________________________________________________________________________
__________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________________
Using your Experiment Data Collection Tables answer the following questions:
1. Which water treatment(s) resulted in the most germinated seeds?
________________________________
2. Which water treatment(s) had the highest
survival?_____________________________________________
3. In which water treatment did the pea seeds grow the tallest on
average?_________________________
4. In which water treatment did the pea seeds have the most
leaves?_______________________________

You collected four types of data about your pea seeds: germination, survival, average growth, and
average number of leaves. Choose one of these four and create a bar graph to show your results.
Do not forget to label your axes!
Chart Title:_________________________________________________________________
water 1 water 2 water 3 water 4
Thinking back to our original experimental question (How does water quality effect the growth of
pea seeds)….
1. Did any of the water treatments from your experiment have a positive effect (better than the
filtered water control) on the pea seeds? If so state which ones.
___________________________________________________________________________
_____________________
2. For the waters listed above, what chemicals or other aspects of the water do you think may
have caused the patterns you observed?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________

3. Did any of the water treatments from your experiment have a negative effect (worse than the
filtered water control) on the pea seeds? If so state which ones.
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________
4. For the waters listed above, what chemicals or other aspects of the water do you think may
have caused the patterns you observed?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________
Often times, in science, we find that the answers only lead us to more
questions and those questions bring forth new ideas which can then be
tested experimentally.
Considering what you have leaned and observed over the past few
weeks write down two questions you have about water quality, water
pollution and/or its effects on the environment that could be tested with
additional experiments.
1. __________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
________________
2. __________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
________________