Watertreatment magazines

Water clarity is affected by both natural and human factors. When you test, be sure to note if you’ve had a recent rainfall or if you’ve noticed unusual events near the test site.

Water temperature is a key feature of any water body. It changes the water’s density, the water’s ability to support life, as well as its ability to absorb gases (like CO₂), and nutrients.

We rely on our waters for supplying our taps, as well as for supporting our ecosystems. Poor water quality can create health risks for people, as well as the ecosystem at large. To properly maintain water quality, we have to regularly measure each characteristic to understand its baseline — the natural resting point of our ecosystem. By regularly monitoring, we can notice trends and react early when an issue arises.

Water Quality ProductsMagazine

Dissolved oxygen is the amount of gaseous oxygen dissolved in the water. Oxygen gets into the water in various ways, including absorbing it from the atmosphere, by rapid movement of the water, or as a product of photosynthesis. Oxygen is what gives the water life! Fish and plants depend on certain levels of oxygen to survive.

Water qualityAnalyzer

Increases in water temperature can cause some chemicals to become “soluble”: think how quickly salt dissolves in hot water versus cold water. Algae blooms and other vegetation can also grow more quickly in warmer water. When these blooms decompose, they reduce the total amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, making it difficult for fish and other aquatic critters to breath.

WaterWorld Group

Pro-Tip: If the colour on the test strip appears in the middle of two colours on the bottle, you can record the absolute middle (for example, if the colour is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.8 the recorded have a value of 7.5).

To measure water quality, testers take a small water sample and measure individual values for multiple important characteristics. These can be different depending on who is taking the measurement and why! However, there are eight key important characteristics of a water quality measurement: temperature, clarity, conductivity, pH, alkalinity, chlorine, hardness, and dissolved oxygen.

Watertrade publications

LFTP3T-AUS series trap primer operates by sensing a 20kPa (3psi) pressure drop in the supply line from the downstream fixtures or appliances. Trap primers are installed on the floor drain trap to maintain water in the trap. This is necessary because drains are vented, and the vent allows air into and water out of the drain. The water in the trap provides a seal against sewer gas entering the building through the drain.

Water clarity is measured with a secchi disk, a 20cm disk that is lowered into the water until it is no longer visible. Recording the depth at which the disc “disappears” gives an indication of how far sunlight can penetrate the water column.

Waterworldproducts

We can use conductivity as an early warning system for potential problems that warrant further testing. If we see a variance (either lower or higher) from our baseline readings, we know something may have gone wrong. While lab testing is the usually the only way to determine what is causing the reading, higher conductivity readings could indicate a pollution event has taken place.

Conductivity is how we measure the ionic content (such as chloride, nitrate, sulfate, sodium, magnesium, calcium, or iron) in a body of water by measuring the water’s ability to conduct electricity.

Hardness is related to alkalinity as they both measure calcium carbonate content. Hardness also measures other metals in the water that do not necessarily neutralize acid. It is one of the most common elements of testing water quality. Calcium in particular is a very important part of many of the biological processes in fish.

pH is measured on a logarithmic scale from 0-14, with 7 indicating neutral water. There are many tools for measuring pH, from expensive digital probes to easy to use test strips. We use test strips for pH. We’ve compared 15 types of test strips, and those made by Taylor have been shown to be the most accurate.

For those looking for more accuracy, inexpensive pen-style meters have proven to be very accurate, but they need to be calibrated at least once a week. We’ve tried this one and it works well (however, you need to be careful not to dunk it too far in the water).

WaterWorld, LLC

pH sets up the conditions for how easy it is for nutrients to be available and how easily things like heavy metals (toxicity for aquatic life) can dissolve in the water. Rivers and lakes generally range between 5 (acidic) and 9 (basic) on the pH scale. Whereas ocean water averages closer to 8.2 (slightly basic). Low pH can reduce how many fish eggs hatch and can make life difficult for fish and macroinvertebrates (the backbone of our water ecosystems).

To measure the water quality of tap or well water, you will need to look at some additional parameters to check for metals, contaminants, and other substances that may be harmful to human health. Our kits are curated for monitoring freshwater systems, but we have a partnership with TapScore, a lab with the best drinking water test kits available, to make this experience as easy as possible for you.

Watermagazine

Water Quality is a way of understanding the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of a water sample to figure out how healthy it is for drinking, swimming, or supporting an ecosystem.

Some people think measurements are only taken by scientists, but many water quality measurements are taken by cottagers, boaters and fishers, students, and community members taking action! We can equip you with everything you need to get testing.

For product-specific approval information, please refer to the product’s specification sheet or contact us. For general information regarding any approval certification partners identified in the specification sheet, please visit our certification partners’ websites:

LFTP3T-AUS series trap primer operates by sensing a 20kPa (3psi) pressure drop in the supply line from the downstream fixtures or appliances. Trap primers are installed on the floor drain trap to maintain water in the trap. This is necessary because drains are vented, and the vent allows air into and water out of the drain. The water in the trap provides a seal against sewer gas entering the building through the drain.

Baseline testing is important as each body of water will have unique factors contributing to water clarity. Some very healthy lakes will have very low readings if they are naturally muddy or coloured. Recording in the same place over time will give you a more accurate picture of what is normal for your body of water.

Water temperature is measured in degrees with a digital or analog thermometer. Make sure the thermometer is submerged at least 10 cm from the surface of the water. Hold under the water for 5 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when the temperature has remained the same for at least 30 seconds.

The inexpensive probes that we’ve tried were finicky and inaccurate (even with proper calibration). Professional probes will give you more fine-grain results, but they’re thousands of dollars and require calibration really often.

© Water Rangers 2015 - 2024. Water Rangers is a Canadian Registered Non-profit Organization. We acknowledge that our headquarters resides in the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People. Questions or Comments?

Conductivity in freshwater is measured in microsiemens/centimetre (µS/cm) using a digital probe that sends a small electrical pulse through the water. In freshwater lakes and streams, conductivity is usually between 100 – 1000 µS/cm.

We use the Chemetrics dissolved oxygen testkit because it is the most user friendly to conduct (no measuring chemicals) and easier to interpret than other tests we’ve tried. This device has been compared to professional probes with very good results. Full study by Carleton University to compare our kits to professional probes