Friday Week Three

...some questions...

1. What is (still) going on with the WV Water Crisis? How much does it cost to your water tested? Why is individual testing of public water a good thing? Why is it not a good thing?

2. What does the World Health Organization have to say about (non-enforceable) health standards for drinking water?

3. What are the (general) results of the most recent consumer confidence report for Lexington City water? What are some of the potential deficiencies exposed in a review of the report? Can these potential deficiencies be justified? Why do we test for Nitrate? Why do we test for Barium?

4. Why do 15% of US people drink their own private well water at home? What is the population density threshold for individual vs. shared water?

5. Who is responsible for ensuring that private well water is safe to drink? On a national scale, how safe is private well water? What are the major contaminants of concern? Do these make sense given the (general) location of these wells?

6. What is the purpose of the Water Quality Index (WQI)? How is WQI calculated? What is a Q value (in the context of WQI)? How is E. coli measured? What is dissolved oxygen (DO)? What are the characteristics of an aquatic ecosystem that would have relatively high DO?  What is BOD? How is it measured? What is pH? What are the pH ranges for a health ecosystem? What is turbidity? How is turbidity measured and communicated (ie what is an NTU?)? Why are P and N measured as part of the WQI?

7. What are the TDS and Ca:Na characteristics of aquatic systems that are dominated by evaporation, precipitation, or water-rock interaction.

Slides from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for the weekend is America's Real Criminal Element: Lead by Kevin Drum in the January/February 2013 Issue of Mother Jones and Fetal Death and Reduced Birth Rates Associated with Exposure to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water by Marc Edwards in Environmental Science and Technology.