Student Research Reports

View Research Report

Many plants and animals rely on healthy water from rivers, lakes and oceans. However, these bodies of water tend to be polluted and dangerous for drinking and living in. Studies have shown that the presence of pollutants such as metal can be caused by high levels of alkalinity in water. This study aims to use the aforementioned knowledge of alkalinity to find out if it can predict the amount of pollution in a water source. By measuring if electrical conductivity is positively correlated with alkalinity, it can be discovered if a body of water’s pollution level is rising if the alkalinity in the water rises. A correlation would mean that there is a way to find out if the water pollution of a body is increasing. In this specific study, no correlation was found between alkalinity and the increase of conductivity, but if further research were conducted, a correlation could be found, especially if more rivers were tested on more testing days.