Works Cited

“Are You More Vulnerable TO Drinking Water Contaminants?” www.consumerfed.org. 1999. Consumer Federation Of America. 09 November 2010. .

“Crytosporidosis.” http://www.pollutionissues.com. Web. <http://www.pollutionissues.com/Co-Ea/Cryptosporidiosis.html>.

Drinking Water and Society. http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/. 2002. Water Encyclopedia. 16 November 2010. < http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Da-En/Drinking-Water-and-Society.html>

Filtration Backwash Recycling. http://www.epa.ohio.gov. 03 August 2009. Environmental Protection Agency. 9 November 2010. <http://www.blogger.com/%3Chttp://www.epa.ohio.gov/portals/28/documents/rules/Final/3745-81-79_effective_08-03-04.pdf%3E.

“Inside the Plating Shop’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.” http://today.slac.stanford.edu. Web. 17 October 2010. <http://today.slac.stanford.edu/images/2006/water-treatment-large.jpg>.

Method 1623: Cryptosporidium and Giardia in Water by Filtration/IMS/FA.http://www.epa.gov/. December 2005. United States Protection Agency. 11 November 2010. <http://www.epa.gov/nerlcwww/1623de05.pdf>.

“Our Bodies and Water.” http://www.sewhaa.com. Web. 11 Feburary 2009. <http://www.sewhaa.com/.a/6a00e553ec0d2988340111685b6d3d970c-800wi>

“Water-Borne Bioterrorism Threats.” http://jhyoung.myweb.uga.edu. Web. <http://jhyoung.myweb.uga.edu/Waterborne.html>.

Findings

When it comes down to the sources it is kind of impossible to find a biased paper about water. My project has been about cold hard facts not water is so great and wonderful. I first started out with educational sites but stopped because most of the education sites were run by a college class and was information posted by a student. Though their information seemed credible I used their work sited instead which lead me to EPA. EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency and water just happens to be part of the environment. I used the EPA site and government sites because I knew for sure they were credible. The most useful sites were government sites because they had more information on the water filtration process then the EPA site.

Goodbye dear readers...

During my quest on discovering if water is safe in America or not I did not really feel much. I am a very calm person that does not panic. I found my project easy and I liked it because it was straight facts. When it comes to projects dealing with researching feelings I really dislike those because it is very difficult to find a non-biased source if a source at all. If I had a chance to do my project over again I would have stayed with that topic. I think it was fate that I got that topic from a random word generator. I picked it from a random word generator because I felt if I chose myself I would pick something everyone would expect from me. I wanted to do something a bit out of the box but still familiar to everyone. I enjoyed working on this project and would rather do a blog anytime then a ten page research paper. My blog has not been about swaying peoples opinions. It was about finding out the truth. Which I am glad I did.

Words to help you with your cleaner water quest!

Looking back...

I am satisfied with my findings. At first I had no idea what water went through or what disease were water borne but now I know a little more. I found it surprising that information on the actual water process was hard to find. I had to dig deep on government sites to find out that information. I think that it should be a little easier to access for the public to know their water is safe. I found out that tap water is safe for most people unless you have a weak immune system. The water plant sterilizes all the diseases and parasites lurking in the water. Just one less thing I have to worry about in the world.

Paragraph 3#

How is water treated? First, it goes to coagulation, has turners that resemble a fan, where chemicals are added to make the filtration easy for the other steps. Then it is sent to flocculation where the water mixes. The chemicals in the water make particles stick together when mixed; the stuck together particles are called floc. After flocculation it goes to sedimentation where the velocity of the water decreases letting floating particles including floc sink to the bottom. This process forms what is called sludge at the bottom which is removed. Next is filtration, where it is sent through 36 inches of graded sand, this removes more unwanted particles, taste, and odor. One of the final steps is disinfection which is where pathogens are sterilized. Many chemicals are added to the water such as chlorine, ammonia, and ozone to remove parasites and maladies from the water. (Oregon Government Department of Human Services) Even though all these precautions are taken to make sure water is safe there is still a risk of getting sick if your immune system is weak. (consumerfed)

Paragraph 2#

The scariest things in the world are often the unseen and the unknown. Cryptosporidium just happens to be one of those unknown unseen fears. Sounds like a made up word, right? Cryptosporidium Parvum is water borne parasite; it usually lives in water contaminated with human or animal feces. Little is known, as you can only tell if you have it through your stool, about this parasite. The symptoms, which are quite horrifying, include the following: frequent watery diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and a low fever. Vibrio Cholera is also caught in the same ways as Cryptosporidium and has similar symptoms. 60% of people with Vibrio Cholera die from dehydration. These are two of the main foes the water plant faces. The next question is how do they deal with all these dirt, diseases, and parasites?