Best Water Quality

This year, I decided to test which geographical area has the best quality well water in Middle Township? My hypothesis was that wells located in wet areas are more subject to flooding are more likely to have bacterial contamination, so houses near the marshes are probably more likely to have the worst quality well water, due to bacterial growth.

First, I needed to collect all of my samples of well water. I first needed to wash my hands and put on latex gloves. Next, I needed to wipe the sink faucet from the house with well water very well with alcohol swabs (just to make sure that there isn’t anything that I didn’t need in my sample). Then, I needed to let the sink run on cold for 5-10 minutes, to ensure that the sample came from the well and that it is not water sitting in the pipes. After that, I needed to label my sample bottle with the address, date, time, and my initials as the sampler. I then filled the bottle to the 100 mL line or a bit above. Finally, I put the water sample in a cooler with ice packs to ensure that it stays cold. Those were all of the steps to collect my water samples. Next, I had to begin measuring the bacterial growth. With a supervisor from the Cape May County Department of Health, I brought my water samples to the lab . I first took my samples of water and mixed it with nutrient broth (food for the bacteria that is pre-made). Then, the bottles and samples of broth were incubated to see if any bacterial growth if there was any bacteria in the sample. After about 24 hours, if the sample changed color bacteria is considered “present” and if the sample did not change color it is considered "not present."

None of my water samples consisted of any change in color from purple to green. So, in result, none of my locations showed any sign of bacterial growth, so they were considered not present. Though, one place did have a slight change of color, it did not change color enough to prove that there was bacteria. All of the houses had no bacteria. So, in conclusion, the geographical area of well water does

Not effect the quality of the well water.

Abstract