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Preliminary Water Quality

Measurements in Caonillas Dam,
Carrazo Dam, Dos Bocas Dam, and
Patillas Dam
Abstract
Due to the ongoing drought facing Puerto Rico, water levels in its
dams have been decreasing.
As a result particle concentration
increases. To measure water quality, calcium carbonate (CaCO 3) was
used as a reference, because it is correlated to water particles. After
testing, it was found that in order from cleanest to most concentrated
were Caonillas, Carrazo, Dos Bocas and Patillas.

Introduction
Puerto Rico has a water
problem.
Currently,
the
Caribbean island is facing a
drought
(United
States
Geological Survey, 2015) and
water levels in its water
reservoirs have fallen sharply.
Due to this, the islands
government has decided to
implement a water rationing
regiment to help prevent the
drying up of the dams. Although
this is a good step, more has to
be done to ensure that the
water being supplied to the
inhabitants is potable and
polluted-free.
The objective of this
preliminary water quality test is
to compare the concentration of
calcium
carbonate
particles

between
the
reservoirs,
establish an order of magnitude
between them and incite the
proper authorities to do a formal
water quality test.
For this
experiment, only one variable
was taken into consideration:
particle concentration of calcium
carbonate
and
water
flow
velocity. Particle concentration is
the amount of particulate within
a certain volume, as explained
in this mathematical formula c=
n/V , where n is number of
particulate in mols and V is the
volume in liters. As the water
contained
in
reservoirs
is
consumed, or evaporates the
volume decreases, thus c= n/V
will be greater.

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stand for 2.5 minutes. After this

times one drop of sodium
stearate was added to the tube.
The tube was sealed, and then
shaken laterally. After this step,
a white colored suspension
appeared and its height was
marked.

Methods and Materials

5x
5x
5x
5x

graduated pippetes
test tubes
drops of sodium stearate
water samples

The procedure was taken from

General Chemistry 3134 by
Ivelisse Padilla (Padilla, Not
Available)

Theses
steps
were
repeated, and in duplicate, with
the Caonillas, Dos Bocas, Patillas
samples and distilled water
(control).

The first step in the

experiment was to gather the
water samples, all collected on
May 18th, 2015.
Once the
samples were gathered, 1 mL of
the Carrazo sample was added
to a test tube. It was left to

Once the test tubes were

marked, we then measured in
cm the height of the suspension.
This is the measurement for the
order of magnitude.

Results
Name

Trial 1 (cm)

Trial 2 (cm)

Change

2.1

Average
(Cm)
2.1

Distilled
Water control
Caonillas

2.0
3.4

3.4

3.4

61.90%

Carrazo

3.9

3.0

3.5

66.67%

Dos Bocas

3.8

3.4

3.6

71.43%

Patillas

3.6

3.7

3.7

76.19%

Discussion
According to our results
the Caonillas dam has the least
amount of calcium carbonate,
while the Patillas Dam has the
most. Using our control as a

baseline, Caonillas had 61.90%

more calcium carbonate than
distilled water; Carrazo has
66.67%; Dos Bocas has 71.43%;
Patillas has 76.19%.
These results are
somewhat surprising, since

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Carrazo appears to have less
calcium carbonate than Dos

Bocas. The reason it is

surprising is that Carrazo is
being consumed at a rapid rate
and thus by the concentration
formula, there is less volume,
thus it should have been more.
An explanation to this result
could be the reduction of water

flow velocity. If water flow

velocity decreases, then
sedimentation occurs
(Enviromental Protection
Agency, 2012). This means that
less calcium carbonate will be
found suspended in the water.
And in the apparent order of
magnitude, Caonillas has less
particulate than Carrazo, which
has less particulate than Dos
Bocas, has less particulate than
Patillas.

Conclusion
Unfortunately, these results are not that comprehensive, hence
the preliminary aspect of the experiment. The reason for this is that
water flow velocity was not taken into consideration, and thus not all
samples were taken from representative sources. My only goal was to
incite more water quality testing, especially on the drying reservoirs.

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Works Cited
Enviromental Protection Agency. (21 de May de 2012). Sediment Traps.
Retrieved 19 de May de 2015 from Enviromental Protection Agency:
http://www.epa.gov/Region5/cleanup/dowchemical/pdfs/dowchemicalcag-20120521-prez.pdf
Padilla, I. (Not Available). Dureza del Agua. In Manual de Quimica
General II (p. Not Available). Mayaguez, PR, United States of America:
Not Available.
United States Geological Survey. (5 de May de 2015). Puerto Rico
DroughtWatch. Retrieved 19 de May de 2015 from United States
Geological Survey: http://pr.water.usgs.gov/drought/