Student Research Project

[name]
00.00.2024
TH
8 GRADE SCIENCE

INTRODUCTION
There is an ongoing problem in our world with some places not having adequate
access to clean water. This experiment aims to determine the best method of
purifying commonly accessible water that is not generally drinkable. I chose this
topic because my parents migrated from a 3rd world country and I am genuinely
interested in understanding how all humans around the world can have access to
clean drinking water.

Aim
To determine which water purification method, when purifying stream water, yields
results closest to pH of 7.

Background research
70% of planet Earth is covered in water, yet only 2.5% is safe for humans to drink.
Drinking water can come from two places: the surface (surface water) or
underground (ground water). Ground water does not generally need to be treated
but not all places have an abundance of groundwater. This means most places
supply their population with surface water which is not always clean. 3rd world
countries especially struggle to safely hydrate their population which has led to 703
million people not having clean water close to home as per WaterAid 2021. This is
due to these poor countries not having the funds to develop and maintain water
treatment plants leading to 3.5 million people dying every year due to water borne
diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea etc. The continent Africa is taking steps to
orchestrate research under one organisation, Water Research Commission
(WRC).Considering the seriousness of this issue the UN has set a goal to “achieve
universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all”(United
Nations, 2015) by 2030.

Developing countries are currently using Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS), Ceramic
Filtration, Chlorination, and Biosand Water Filtration as these are low-cost and use
simple methods that can be done at home with little to no technical assistance. In
SODIS, water is exposed to sunlight for at least 6 hours as the exposure to UV rays
reduces pathogens in the water. Ceramic Filtration and Biosand Water Filtration
involves the water passing through a filter with small pores, blocking contaminants
from passing through. In the Biosand Filtration, washed sand and gravel act as the
filtering medium. These processes involve someone to replace the ceramic or sand
every few days when the contaminants build up. Some developing countries have
moved to chlorination as their form of water purification as it simply involves adding
a solution that contains sodium hypochlorite to the water. This process kills many
pathogens, viruses, and bacteria that may be present in the water but adding the

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chlorine could also react with something else in the water, creating a harmful
byproduct. Long term use could also lead to increased likelihood of cancer.

The pH of water measures how acidic or alkaline the water is. The more acidic, the
worse it is for human consumption. pH is a large measuring factor when it comes to
deciding if water is safe for human consumption.

At-home distillation has been proven to yield extremely clean results as this method
involves evaporating water, and then changing the gases to liquid via
condensation.This purifies water and is believed to have a pure pH of 7 as per
Sciencing.com study by Chris Deziel. However he notes in his research that when
the distilled water is exposed to the atmosphere it absorbs Carbon Dioxide which
lowers its pH making it slightly acidic. It is the most effective yet expensive method
of water purification as per various studies and research.

Biosand water filtration involves layering sand, gravel, charcoal and pebbles and
passing water through it stopping larger particles from passing through. This has
also been proven to yield very clean results as per the study done by CAWST. in
2005 not just in terms of the pH level but also improving the cfu count(colony
forming unit measuring the bacteria in water). Coffee filter paper filtration has not
been that effective as this involves passing the stream water through 2 layers of
coffee filter paper.There is no research found in relation to this method using coffee
filter papers.

In my research, I am using these three methods at home with household

equipment, to confirm if Biosand filtration is the most effective way to purify water
at home. To assemble my methods, I researched the process to conduct these
water purification methods and this is captured in the logbook and further down in
this report.

Hypothesis
I hypothesise that the Biosand water filtration purification method will produce a pH
closest to 7.

Risk assessment

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 Risk Injury Precaution

When using the stove, get

a trusted and/or
Burning hand from stove 3rd degree burns to body
experienced adult to turn
it on for you.

Make sure your hand is

never behind the knife
Cutting hand from knife Cuts on body
and cut away from the
body.

Be careful when collecting

Consuming potentially
Falling in stream when water, avoid slippery
unsafe stream water and
collecting stream water surface and find firm
bacteria.
footing on the ground

Experimental variables
Independent variable - Water purification methods( Distillation, Biosand filtration
and Coffee filter paper filtration)

Dependent variable - The pH of the purified water

Controlled variables -

● The stream water

● The test strips
● The testing process
● Consistent stove top temperature for distillation
● Equal amount of Ice cubes used in distillation in each test
● 2 coffee filter paper used in each test
● Equal amounts of all materials used in the Biosand filtration
● Not touching the test strips with hand to avoid contaminating results
● Temperature the purified water was tested at (room temperature)
● Environment

Method

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Equipment List:

● Plastic bottle
● Knife
● pH water testing strips
● Pebbles
● Gravel
● Fine sand
● Coarse sand
● Crushed Activated Charcoal
● Cloth
● Cotton balls
● Pot
● Glass pot lid with no holes
● 45 Ice cubes
● Stove
● Coffee filter paper
● 4L of dirty stream water
● Plastic cups

Control group Test

1. Place 400ml of stream water in a cup

2. Place the test strip into the water for 2 seconds
3. Immediately remove and tap horizontally 3 times to remove excess water
4. Wait 30 seconds before comparing the pH level on the bottle
5. Take a photo of the results for future reference
6. Record the pH level in a table as base result.

Method for Biosand filtration

1. Cut the base of the plastic bottle off with a knife

2. Layer the cloth, fine sand, charcoal, coarse sand, gravel and pebbles
respectively in the lid side of the bottle with the drinking hole facing
downwards so the cloth is in the drinking hole.
3. Place the drinking hole side down in a cup to collect the filtered water
4. Pour 400ml of water into the large hole where the pebbles are
5. Once all water has passed through the filter, place the test strip into the
water for 2 seconds
6. Immediately remove and tap horizontally 3 times to remove excess water
7. Wait 30 seconds before comparing the pH level on the bottle

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 8. Take a photo of the results for future reference
9. Record the pH level in a table

Method for Distillation

1. Pour 4000ml of the stream water into the pot

2. Place a bowl inside the pot
3. Place the pot on the stove
4. Place the glass lid of the pot upside down on the pot
5. Pour 15 cubes of ice into the pot lid
6. Turn on the stove to maximum heat and wait for the water to boil and collect
in the bowl
7. Once the bowl is half full, turn off the stove
8. Take the lid off the pot and carefully remove the bowl containing the distilled
water
9. Wait for water to reach room temperature before placing the testing strip in
the water
10.Repeat steps 6-9 from Biosand Filtration method

Method for Coffee filter paper filtration

1. Place a cup on a flat surface (this is where the water will be collected)
2. Fold the base and one side of the coffee filter paper, making a cone before
placing it in the cup
3. Repeat step 2, placing the second cone in the first
4. Pour 400ml of water through both pieces of coffee filter paper
5. Repeat steps 5-9 from the Biosand Filtration method

Repeat until you have performed all each method 3 times.

Scientific diagram

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6
 Results

Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee

Biosand Biosand Biosand Distillat
Control filter paper filter filter filter Biosand
Method of Filtration Filtration Filtration
Group Filtration paper paper paper Filtration
Purification
Test Filtration Filtration Filtration Average
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 1
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average

pH (ideal
6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2 7.2 6.8 7.6 7.2 6.4
7)

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Discussion
Describe

My results showed that the Biosand filtration gave results closest to pH 7 which
supports my hypothesis. As seen in my graph above, both distillation and coffee
filter paper filtration were not effective in changing the pH of the water as they gave
results averaging 6.4 and 6.2, respectively. This agrees with my background
research hosted on CAWST conducted by the DHAN foundation in 2005.

Explain

I identified a pattern that when I repeated the same method 3 times, only the coffee
filter paper method produced the same results each time, while the Biosand and
Distillation method gave varied results. It is worthy to call out that the Distillation
results were consistent with the finding from Sciencing.com study by Chris Deziel
that showed the pH of Distilled water lowers when coming in contact with Carbon
dioxide and in my research it gave me a result of 6.4 average.

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Accuracy

This experiment was relatively accurate as the biosand filtration method was
expected to have results closest to a pH of 7 and it produced an average result of
pH 7.2. The distillation was also expected to be slightly acidic because when the
distilled water comes in contact with carbon dioxide, the byproduct of that reaction
makes the water acidic leading to an average result of pH 6.4. The coffee filter
paper filtration method was also expected to have no effect on the pH of the water
as there is no chemical change happening to the water and therefore the pH of the
water did not change.

Overall the experiment produced accurate results.

Reliability

This experiment was not very reliable as the pH results for distillation and biosand
filtration were not consistent in the repeat trials. The results for Coffee paper
filtration were very consistent as this method had no effect on the pH of the water.
The pH results for biosand filtration and distillation could have potentially been
more reliable, if I conducted further trials and used more reliable testing stips. In
the kit I had used, I had to subjectively deduce the outcome by matching the colour
of the strip with the scale provided. In some instances, I had to make a call on the
colour to record the results as the colours looked very similar.

Validity

The experiment I conducted aimed to conclude which water purification method is

ideal to produce water closest to the pH 7. To ensure the experiment is fair, I
controlled many variables to increase the validity of my experiment. Some control
variables that were easy to maintain were the stream water I used for each water
purification method, the test strips used, the testing process, temperature of the
stovetop, and the amount of ice cubes used per distillation trial.

Improvements & Future Research

I could have used professional lab equipment to conduct the distillation method to
produce better results. I also could have used a pH metre instead of the testing
strips for more accurate and reliable results. To further this experiment, I could
measure other components of water like the cfu/mL, and waterborne diseases
present in the water after purification. My results prove that distilled water, once
cooled down and exposed to the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, has a slightly
acidic pH reading as opposed to the initially considered pure pH of 7. To make this

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research more relevant and useful in providing clean water to less privileged
people, I could test the exact water they have access to and produce more easily
accessible methods of water purification that actually kill bacteria.

Conclusion
The results from this experiment confirmed the hypothesis, which stated that the
Biosand water filtration purification method will produce a pH closest to 7. It showed
that out of the three water purification methods used in the experiment, Biosand
water filtration was the most effective.

Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge my Science teachers Mrs. Wright and Mr. Robinson for
their support and guidance throughout all stages of my report from ideation to
completion.

I would also like to thank my parents for their consistent support and
encouragement. They helped me gather all the materials ,purchase the water
testing strips and assist me when using the stove and knife to cut the bottle. The
remaining components of this report and experiment were completed by me.

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