Water for Life

YAY, its Wednesday again! cool Today, we learnt about water. We didn’t know that there are so many methods of water purification and the impacts of each method. In Singapore, we have limited water resources, so we should all do our part to save water as there is a water hike recently announced by the Budget. Anyway, these are our group’s answers for this week’s questions:

Question 1

We can purify by boiling, the use of water purification tablets, and the use of ultraviolet light water purifier.

Cost Effectiveness
Boiling Low Requires carrying of solid fuels and cooling down after boiling for it to be consumed
Water Purification Tablets Medium Tablets do not kill cryptosporidium (a form of microscopic parasite)
UV Light Water Purifier High Not effective when water has a lot of suspended solids

None of the methods used is similar. Municipal water supplies are treated extensively with many steps involved such as flocculation, fluoridation, ammoniation, and pH adjustment. On the other hand, the water purification methods used during hiking are simple. Municipal water supplies are treated with the intention for long term storage whereas instant purification methods are used for on the spot consumption.

Question 2

Desalination requires a lot of energy and it is cost ineffective to run them. In addition, the high consumption of energy raises concern about environmental issues such as carbon emissions. Marine life gets affected as well as some ocean creatures can be sucked into the plants, causing disruption to the food chain. Marine life also gets affected by plants discharging brine which increases the salinity of the oceans and extra steps have to been taken to ensure its safe disposal.

Question 3

a. One of the major source of lead in drinking water is caused by the corrosion of lead pipes or solder drinking fountains, and water tanks.
b. Research activities should not contribute to lead in drinking water as safeguards should be in placed for proper disposal of lead. Furthermore, most experiments have been redesigned to avoid the use of toxic metal ions completely.

Question 4

Only water-soluble vitamins are polar. They have more polar groups than non-polar, and will mix with polar water molecules. On the other hand, non-polar vitamins are fat soluble and have few or no polar groups. Thus, they blend with polar lipids, making them fat soluble.

Yay, it has ended.Recess week is coming up! WOOHOO!!! xD (Thank you prof laughing) bye!!!!!!!!