FSLF Kids Water Test (Part 2)

FSLF Kids: Roots & Shoots members conduct water quality testing of Sampaloc Lake on a regular basis. They test for turbidity, pH and dissolved oxygen. It' s a very simple screening test which gives an indication of water quality - poor, fair or good.

This Part 2 of the FSLF Kids water test. They start by checking for turbidity or clarity of the water using the Secchi disk icon at the bottom of the jar. Then, they test for Dissolved Oxygen (DO) by dropping 2 DO tes tabs into the small vial. The color of the water sample changes and they match this to the colors in the chart. They check the water temperature and DO result against a DO % Saturation chart. Natural waters with consistently high DO levels are most likely to be healthy and stable environments. All aquatic animals need oxygen to survive. The kids then check for pH by dropping the pH Wide Range tes tab into a larger vial. Again, they match the color of their sample to the color chart. Most aquatic animals prefer a range of 6.5 to 8.0. The pH scale ranges from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic) with 7 as neutral.

The water test results (from Dec 2008 to Jan 2009) were sent to the Philippine CLEAR Network* and to the World Water Monitoring Day** organization.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• FSLF Kids
• water test