Water Quality

Is pure water really clear? Not really—even pure water is not colorless, but has a slight blue tint to it. In the natural world you often see water that is definitely not clear. Sediment and organics color natural water shades of brown or green. And if too much iron in present, even your drinking water can have a brown hue. Read on to investigate water color in the environment.

There is a growing concern about the occurance of pharmaceuticals in water bodies and in drinking water. Pharmaceuticals get into the water supply via human excretion and by drugs being flushed down the toilet. You might think wastewater treatment plants would take care of the situation, but pharmaceuticals pass through water treatment.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a measure of how much oxygen is dissolved in the water - the amount of oxygen available to living aquatic organisms. The amount of dissolved oxygen in a stream or lake can tell us a lot about its water quality.

You don't often think that water bodies contain oxygen, but water does contain a small amount of dissolved oxygen. A small amount, but it is essential for life in the water. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) generally represents how much oxygen is needed to break down organic matter in water.

Water, like everything else on Earth, including you, is full of bacteria. Some bacteria are beneficial and some are not. Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) bacteria, found in the digestive tract of animals, can get into the environment, and if contacted by people, can cause health problems and sickness. Find out the details here.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is organismal DNA that can be found in the environment. Environmental DNA originates from cellular material shed by organisms (via skin, excrement, etc.) into aquatic or terrestrial environments that can be sampled and monitored using new molecular methods. Such methodology is important for the early detection of invasive species as well as the detection of rare and...

The banner picture shows it all — Superhighways! Streets and pavement! Driveways! House roofs! These are all "impervious surfaces"; impervious to the water from precipitation. When it rains in this locale, water no longer seeps into the ground, but now runs off into storm sewers and then quickly into local creeks. Localized flooding is too often the result.

Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential for plant and animal growth and nourishment, but the overabundance of certain nutrients in water can cause a number of adverse health and ecological effects.

Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential for plant and animal growth and nourishment, but the overabundance of certain nutrients in water can cause several adverse health and ecological effects.