A TALE OF TWO IONS: AN ANALYSIS OF CALCIUM AND CHLORIDE IONS IN WATER SOURCES FROM MADISON, NEW JERSEY

Zijian An, Sara Delhauer, Stanislaw Gabryszewski, Zain Husain, Hannah Kim, Julia Pustizzi, Stuart Schussel, Vivien Sun, Mazell Tetruashvily, Monica Yu

Advisor: Dr. James Fukunaga
Assistant: Matt Singer

Understanding the quality of our local water is becoming a paramount issue for New Jersey communities. In this study, the team investigated the contents of different samples of water including the Borough of Madison’s tap water, water from varying nearby locations, and Stop-and-Shop spring water. The team focused primarily on the calcium and chloride ions in the samples through titrations, and suggested possible sources of these ions. A qualitative study using the persistent presence of soap bubbles explored the hardness of several water samples. Conductivity and pH tests provided insight into the total ion concentration and the solubility of calcium carbonate. Upon examination of the water samples, Madison tap water was found to have exhibited higher concentrations of calcium and chloride ions than spring water. Furthermore, the team tested samples of water from various streams that feed into the Great Swamp aquifer; this allowed us to track the presence of ions from the source. This thorough examination of water analyzes the ions present in different types of water and offers possible sources that the contaminants could have originated from.

Paper

(Acrobat pdf file: 2,594 kb)

Presentation

(Acrobat pdf file: 2.7 Mb)

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