Tds Lab Report of the Uae

TDS Lab Report of the UAE

Environmental science

May 5, 2017

TDS Lab Report of the UAE

Introduction:

        Water covers two thirds of earth’s surface, it is the foundation of life on earth, and our bodies are made up of 75% of it. Nowadays, the water that we so desperately need to survive, may be contaminated and lethal to drink. On top of that, it is not pure of bacteria, viruses and inorganic minerals. So, even though we need the water to live, water that isn’t clean could kill us. Why is it important to monitor water quality? We have to monitor water quality to understand why we should better manage our water quality efficiently without hurting the environment. If water quality depletes, it not only affects our health, but also hurt the environment. We need to formulate new policies to ensure the best quality water to live a healthier life and protect the environment.  If we do not maintain the quality of our water, it will most likely lead to the destruction of many ecosystems and also the diminishing of the commercial and recreational value of water resources.

“TDS stands for total dissolved solids, and represents the total concentration of dissolved substances in water.” TDS contains inorganic, as well as organic, matter such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride and many more. The ideal concentration of TDS would be 600 mg/litre and below. A higher concentration of dissolved solids isn’t necessarily a threat to our health; however, they could affect the waters taste. “concentrations below 1000 mg/liter is usually acceptable to consumers.” However, there are some contents that could be a threat to our health such as boron, fluoride and nitrate, which should be eliminated from our drinking water. So, a concentration of 1200 and above is unacceptable and would have a undesirable taste. Also, lower concentrations of dissolved solids may be unfavorable to many people for its bland taste.

        The objective of this experiment is to calculate the total average TDS for several samples of water from different locations in the UAE and test whether it meets the water quality standards and is safe for consumption.

Methods:

We speculated that the level of TDS of our samples should be below 700 mg/liters to be safe. Multiple samples of water were gathered from Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and the American university of Sharjah and bottled water. After measuring an empty glass beaker, we poured 50 ml of water into the beaker then evaporated the water so only the solids remain. Then, we measure the beaker with the solids and used it to calculate the weight of the dissolved solids, by subtracting the weight of the beaker with the dissolved solids by the weight of the empty beaker. To calculate TDS, we first convert the weight of the dissolved solids from grams to milligrams and the volume of the water from milliliters to liters. Then divided the weight of the dissolved solids (mg) by the volume of water (L). Several replicates were tested and compared for each source.