Water Quality is a current Division B and Division C event which tests students' ability to identify marine coral reef indicator organisms and their knowledge on indicators affecting estuarine and marine water quality.
What is the water quality test?
Water Quality is a current Division B and Division C event which tests students' ability to identify marine coral reef indicator organisms and their knowledge on indicators affecting estuarine and marine water quality.
What is water quality and why does it matter?
In countries around the world, especially in the U.S., standards are set to determine whether or not water is potable, or safe to drink. The 2019 Water Quality event dealt with freshwater ecology, while the 2020 and 2021 event deals with marine and estuary ecology.
Where can I find the current Science Olympiad rules?
You can find free online copies of the current rules for download in the Science Olympiad Store . The official rules in the current Rules Manual take precedence. BioEarth CD in the Science Olympiad Store - Contains WQ resources! Ward's Science Olympiad Water Quality Kit A - Environmental Factors
What is water quality/marine and estuary?
For more information on this subtopic, see Water Quality/Marine and Estuary . The event was named Water, Water Everywhere from 1985 to 1990. Water Quality includes the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water.
What are the 6 factors used to measure water quality?
They include dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, salinity and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). They also include measures of toxicants such as insecticides, herbicides and metals. Physico-chemical indicators provide information on what is impacting on the system.
What are the components of water quality?
These include temperature, acidity (pH), dissolved solids (specific conductance), particulate matter (turbidity), dissolved oxygen, hardness and suspended sediment. Each reveals something different about the health of a water body.
What is water quality?
Water quality describes the condition of the water, including chemical, physical, and biological characteristics, usually with respect to its suitability for a particular purpose such as drinking or swimming.
Why is water quality important?
Water quality monitoring can help researchers predict and learn from natural processes in the environment and determine human impacts on an ecosystem. These measurement efforts can also assist in restoration projects or ensure environmental standards are being met.
What are the 3 water quality?
There are three types of water quality parameters physical, chemical, and biological [8, 9].
What are the five qualities of water?
5 Physical Characteristics of Water | Water ManagementSuspended Solids: Suspended solids in water may consist of inorganic or organic particles or of immiscible liquids (oils or greases). ... Turbidity: ... Colour: ... Taste and Odour: ... Temperature:
What are the 5 parameters for water quality?
Parameters that are frequently sampled or monitored for water quality include temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, ORP, and turbidity.
What are the components of a river water quality model?
To these ends, the model incorporates fundamental water quality components and processes to characterise carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling instead of biochemical oxygen demand.
What is water quality?
In countries around the world, especially in the U.S., standards are set to determine whether or not water is potable, or safe to drink. The 2019 Water Quality event dealt with freshwater ecology, while the 2020 and 2021 event deals with marine and estuary ecology. More information on this topic can be found at Water Quality/Marine and Estuary .
How is water classified?
Water can be classified by its salinity as such: fresh water has a ppt of <0.5, which means that there are 0.5 molecules of dissolved salt for every 1000 molecules of solution or 1 molecule of salt per every 2000 molecules of solution. Brackish water has a ppt between 0.5 and 30, saline water has a ppt between 30 to 50, and brine has a ppt of >50. The only water safe for human consumption is fresh water, and drinking water often achieves salinity levels as low as 0.1 ppt. In ocean water, total salt content makes up 3.5% (35 ppt) of ocean water, the other 96.5% being water. Of the dissolved salts in ocean water, 85% of the salts are sodium chloride (3% of all the water, 30 ppt). The other 15% of the total salts are other salt ions such as Magnesium, Strontium etc. (.5 % of total ocean water, 5 ppt).
How is salinity measured?
Salinity is measured by dissolved salts in parts per thousand (ppt) or grams of salt per kilogram of water. These two quantities are equivalent. The category of salts include compounds such as sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, sodium bicarbonate, and others, all of which dissolve into ions. Salinity governs the physical properties of water, such as density, heat capacity, and electrical conductivity. As such, salinity is often measured by water density or conductivity, especially the latter. Water with constant salinity is called homoiohaline. Environments in which salinity varies over time are called poikilohaline. Poikilohaline salinities may range as much as from 0.5 to greater than 300.
Why is alkalinity important?
Alkalinity is very important to water quality . Alkalinity in aquatic ecosystems needs to be within a certain range, depending upon the ecosystem. If alkalinity is too low, the ecosystem has low stability as it is susceptible to sudden pH changes from devices such as acid rain or other pollution, which can be harmful to the flora and fauna of the ecosystem. If alkalinity is too high, the buffer acids and bases in the buffer solution can render the ecosystem uninhabitable.
What are the steps of potable water treatment?
There are six steps: Coagulation, Flocculation, Sedimentation, Filtration, Disinfection, and Distribution. These processes are both physical and chemical in order to remove as many waterborne germs as possible.
What class is a pollution sensitive snail?
Teams are not required to identify these for the 2020-2021 season, but general knowledge about them may be useful. Class 1 – Pollution Sensitive: Caddisfly, Dobsonfly, Gilled Snails, Mayfly, Riffle Beetle, Stonefly, Water Penny, Water Scorpion.
Why is temperature important in aquatic ecosystems?
Temperature. The water temperature in aquatic ecosystems is a very important quality indicator, as temperature affects other factors such as the dissolved oxygen level in the water, as well as photosynthesis of aquatic plants, metabolic rates of aquatic organisms, and more.
What is the National Water Quality Data Portal?
The National Water Quality Data Portal integrates publicly available water quality data from the Geological Survey’s National Water Information System, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Storage and Retrieval (STORET) Data Warehouse, and the Department of Agriculture’s Sustaining the Earth’s Watersheds Agricultural Research Database System (STEWARDS). Information includes a wide variety of site and sampling parameters, available for each sample location since the beginning of that database.
What is the National Data Buoy Center?
The National Data Buoy Center provides real-time environmental observations collected from buoys around the world, including inland sources. View both recent and historical information on ocean and weather conditions, as well as any current tsunami activity. Graphs and tables of data are available for water column height at each buoy location.
What is NSSL weather?
The National Severe Storms Lab (NSSL) research laboratory studies a wide range of severe weather, including tornadoes, lightning, winds, hail, flash floods, and winter weather. New technology developed by NSSL, including research into the topics of weather processes, radars, and models, benefits National Weather Service forecasters by providing them with new tools. NSSL’s education page can help your students jump into the world of severe weather. The Severe Weather 101 portal includes overviews a variety of phenomena, including flooding.
What is the National Integrated Drought Information System?
The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) is a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information at national, tribal, state, and local levels. Explore data, including the U.S. Drought Monitor and the Climate Prediction Center's Seasonal Drought Outlook.
Caddisfly
Complete Metamorphosis- Eggs are attached to submerged vegetation, worm-like, soft-bodied larvae enter pupae stage before becoming adults. Adults live for a very short time.
Stonefly
Incomplete Metamorphosis-Eggs are laid on water and sink to the bottom. Nymphs have many molts before reaching adulthood.
Dobsonfly
The dobsonfly does not eat in its mature form. Hellgrammites (dobsonfly larvae) consume aquatic insects.
Dragonfly
The dragonfly undergoes incomplete metamorphosis during its life cycle. Once it reaches adulthood, it can travel extremely fast.
Crane Fly
Complete Metamorphosis- wormlike, thick, brownish larvae. Adults resemble large mosquitoes with larger bodies, but are harmless.
Midge
Complete Metamorphosis-Larvae are very small, wormlike, and green, gold, brown, tan, or black. Adults resemble small mosquitoes. Males have fuzzy antennae.
Blackfly
Complete Metamorphosis-Larvae are small, wormlike, and bulbous at one end. When out of water, they fold themselves in half while wiggling; color varies from green, brown, gray, but usually black; length up to 1/3 inch. Adults inflict painful bites on warm-blooded animals.
Description
Participants will be assessed on their understanding and evaluation of marine and estuary aquatic environments.
Scoring
High score wins. Points will be assigned to the various questions and problems. Selected questions may be used as tiebreakers
Event Resources
Water Quality 2018 Coaches Clinic Presentation (2019 Rules) The Swamp School Youtube Channel Stream Monitoring Activity What is Sewage Sludge? Polluted Runoff
The Basics
Human Impact
- Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process used to convert wastewater into an effluent that can be returned to the natural water cycle without a significant impact on the environment. Sometimes, the water is also directly reused (called water reclamation). Treatment in the US costs $12 billio… - Potable Water Treatment
Potable water treatment is the process by which lake or river water is made drinkable by humans. There are six steps: Coagulation, Flocculation, Sedimentation, Filtration, Disinfection, and Distribution. These processes are both physical and chemical in order to remove as many water…
Ecology
- For more information, see Ecology and Water Quality/Marine and Estuary. Ecology is defined as the branch of science dealing with interactions between organisms and their physical surroundings.
Analysis
- A major part of Water Quality deals with the analysis of a particular body of water, such as a stream, for different properties. These properties include salinity, pH, alkalinity, phosphates, nitrates, turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, fecal coliform, total solids, and biological oxygen demand (BOD). Students should know acceptable levels of each of these factors for est…
Competing
- You may bring in one two-sided page of resource notes and 2 non-programmable/graphing calculators. You must bring Category Ceye protection. You must also bring a salinometer as well to measure saline solutions between 0 and 10% salinity within a range of 1% at regionals and .5% at states and nationals.
Resources