• Question: How do you now if the water is dirty?

    Asked by JoeyDman to Ann, Philip, Maxime, Jake, Annette, Amy Heather on 11 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by cake46pie, JamesDman.
    • Photo: Ann Reen

      Ann Reen answered on 11 Nov 2019:

      A visual inspection will tell you if the sample is dirty/cloudy/turbid.

      Micro tests will tell you if the water is polluted by bugs..you wont be able to find this out without testing the water as bugs like e.coli are too small to be seen by the eye.

      Chemical tests will tell you if there is too much metals in the water like aluminium, iron, or too much pesticides etc.

      Pesticides in water is becoming more of an issue in recent years because they are being applied more frequently that in time past.

    • Photo: Amy Heather Fitzpatrick

      Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 14 Nov 2019:

      HI pass46map I think Ann has given you a really good answer for checking if water is dirty or not. When we test for viruses in water, we have to use a method called quantitative polymerase chain reaction. It sounds fancy but really it just uses light reflection to quantify how much virus is there. The more light reflection the more virus.

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