WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERS –

LABORATORY

MIDTERM OUTPUT

Group I
Gutierrez, Kenn Carlo A.
Ibañez, Steve Jefferson L.
Ilagan, Ralph Aleph
Javines, John Mat
Lagarde, Karl Jairu
OBJECTIVES
- To identify the most abundant microbes present in all drinking fountains
- To determine the water quality coming from the drinking fountains
- To improve the filter system of the drinking fountains

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Water is part of the everyday life of people. It is part of a human necessity. An individual

can survive as long as there is water present. So it will be important that the water that people drink

are safe to consume. Meaning there are no great level of Microbes present.

Understanding water quality is vital to worldwide public health. The health of world

citizens improves and increases the lifespan in having access to potable water. (Freitas, et

al.,2017)

Safe, accessible and adequate water should be available to all since water is essential to

life. Significant benefits may be observed by improving a safe access to drinking water. Every

effort should be made to achieve a drinking water quality as safe as possible (Cabral, 2010)

Water, although is essential to life, may be the cause of death, as per Freitas et al. This may

be due to waterborne bacterial infections. Taking note if the water is potable can be one’s lifespan

lengthener. (Freitas, et al.,2017)

The breakdown in water safety supply may lead to a large scale of contamination and a

disease outbreak. (World Health Organization, 2004)

Drinking water fountains provide free public access to what is typically high-quality and safe

municipal water. They serve as an alternative to bottled water or sugary drinks and accommodate

a wide array of users, including children, commuters, runners, the homeless, and tourists, as well

as pets. Maintaining public access to water, and additional effort is needed to expand the science

and practice of ensuring that they remain clean, safe, and accessible. (Phurisamban, Gleick, 2017)
 Lead, which is usually contained in different bodies of water, gets into drinking water

through pipes, faucets, valves, and fittings. Once it leaves the local treatment plant or private well

and comes into contact with plumbing materials in individual homes and businesses that contain

lead. (United States Environmental Protection Agency, Richard Nixon, 1994)

The components of water aren’t limited to chemicals. Microbes can be present in such

substances, too. Different kinds of bacteria such as bacteriophage MS2, Escherichia coli,

Enterococcus faecalis, Cryptosporidium parvum, 4.5-μm microspheres, Salmonella

entericaserovarTyphimurium, Bacillus globigii endospores, and echovirus were present in a

previous research. (Hill, et al., 2005)

Microbes in water have a great risk in consumption of water that is contaminated with

human and animal excreta. Although there are a lot of exposure in sources and routes that may

also be significant ( World Health Organization, 2004)

Contamination through less sanitation is also possible. Less hygiene paves way to the presence of
bacterias. Conversely, the percentage of positive samples may increase after water is collected and
stored from safe sources because of contamination through hands, unwashed containers and
dippers. (Wright, Gundry, Conrooy, 2004)

METHODOLOGY
We listed down the steps that we will be doing to systematically execute the task and attain
the objectives. The Methods that we will be doing are as follows:
 Collect water samples from various water fountains in De La Salle University Dasmariñas.
 Test the collected water samples on water testing facility of Dasmariñas Water District.
 We will check if there are microbes or coliforms present in the water samples based on the
result of the test, and if it is still safe to drink.
 If there are microbes or coliforms present in the water samples and if the filtration system
of the water fountains does not work effectively, then we will think of a solution on how
to address the problems.
 If the result of the test does not see any problem, we will suggest some ways to improve
the filtration system of the drinking fountains in DLSU-D.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cabral, J. P. S., (2010, October 7) “Water Microbiology. Bacterial Pathogens and Water”,
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996186/

Freitas, Silva, Bataus, Barbosa, Braga, Carneiro. (2017, February 8), “Bacteriological water
quality in school’s drinking fountains and detection antibiotic resistance genes”. Retrieved
from https://ann-clinmicrob.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12941-016-0176-7

Hill, Polaczyk, Hahn, Narayanan, Cromeans, Roberts, Amburgey. (2005, June 13) “Development
of a Rapid Method for Simultaneous Recovery of Diverse Microbes in Drinking Water by
Ultrafiltration with Sodium Polyphosphate and Surfactants”, Retrieved from
http://aem.asm.org/content/71/11/6878.short

Phurisamban, R., Gleick, P., (2017, February) “Drinking Fountains and Public Health: Improving
National Water Infrastructure to Rebuild Trust and Ensure Access“, Pacific Institute.
Retrieved from http://pacinst.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/Drinking_Fountains_and_Public_Health_Feb_2017-1.pdf

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (1994, April) “Sampling for Lead in Drinking
Water in Nursery Schools and Day Care Facilities”, EPA. Retrieved from
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-
09/documents/guidance_lcmr_sampling_nursery_day_care.pdf

World Health Organization, (2004) “Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality”, Retrieved from
https://books.google.com.ph/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SJ76COTm-
nQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR15&dq=Drinking%20water%20microbe%20levels&ots=V8o-
w7Sb4e&sig=4WtnySCvttAHoMytr1oGzIwLKCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Drinkin
g%20water%20microbe%20levels&f=false

Wright, Gundry, Conroy. (2004, January 16) “Household drinking water in developing countries:
a systematic review of microbiological contamination between source and point-of-use”,
Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-3156.2003.01160.x/full