Discussion
The cleanliness of tap water is determined by comparing many different factors of the water’s composition to the acceptable or ideal levels that have been set for “healthy” water. The water samples from each city show that the tap water remains within an acceptable range. For instance, the acceptable level for Nitrate in water is 10 ppm, a maximum level enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, and each city did not exceed that amount with the highest level being 5 ppm in one sample of Royal Palm Beach and one sample of Palm Beach Gardens (“Basic Information about Nitrate”, n.d.). Nitrite, which usually occurs in water due to runoff from fertilizers or leaching from septic tanks and sewage, is also limited to 1 ppm, which none of the samples exceed 0.5 ppm individually, or 0.2 ppm on average (“Basic Information about Nitrite”, n.d.). …show more content…
Free chlorine, as the residual amount of chlorine left over after disinfection of water, is recommended to have levels between 0.3 and 0.5 ppm so that water can remain clean and healthy to use (Wagenet, Heidekamp, & Lemley, 2005). However, in most cities the majority of samples had free chlorine levels less than the recommended range, except for North Palm Beach which remained at 0.5 ppm in all samples. This suggests that an adequate amount of chlorine may not be being added to the tap water in the other cities, lowering its
The cleanliness of tap water is determined by comparing many different factors of the water’s composition to the acceptable or ideal levels that have been set for “healthy” water. The water samples from each city show that the tap water remains within an acceptable range. For instance, the acceptable level for Nitrate in water is 10 ppm, a maximum level enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, and each city did not exceed that amount with the highest level being 5 ppm in one sample of Royal Palm Beach and one sample of Palm Beach Gardens (“Basic Information about Nitrate”, n.d.). Nitrite, which usually occurs in water due to runoff from fertilizers or leaching from septic tanks and sewage, is also limited to 1 ppm, which none of the samples exceed 0.5 ppm individually, or 0.2 ppm on average (“Basic Information about Nitrite”, n.d.). …show more content…
Free chlorine, as the residual amount of chlorine left over after disinfection of water, is recommended to have levels between 0.3 and 0.5 ppm so that water can remain clean and healthy to use (Wagenet, Heidekamp, & Lemley, 2005). However, in most cities the majority of samples had free chlorine levels less than the recommended range, except for North Palm Beach which remained at 0.5 ppm in all samples. This suggests that an adequate amount of chlorine may not be being added to the tap water in the other cities, lowering its