Question

Nitrates in water supplies are essential community health and well being. To keep them clean, health inspectors regularly sample water for its percentage absorbance to determine the levels of nitrate pollutants present in it. The test usually is indirect and uses a dye chemical reaction followed by a light test to test the absorbance. The amount absorbance and nitrates were calculated. Nitrates are measured in milligrams per liter of water. below is a summary of the data:

nitrates 50/100/150/200/250/300

absorbance 7/12/20/25/35/50

Answer 1

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of nitrate as nitrogen (NO3-N) at 10 mg/L (or 10 parts per million) for the safety of drinking water.

Based on given data, we can see that every sample has nitrate much greater than 10 mg/l.

Excess nitrogen in water can harm people.Too much nitrogen, as nitrate, in drinkingwater can be harmful to young infants or young livestock. Excessive nitrate can result in restriction of oxygen transport in the bloodstream.

Hence, the water supply is too much nitrate polluted and needs to be treated.

Nitrate can be removed from drinking water bydistillation, reverse osmosis or ion exchange. Boiling, carbon adsorption filters and standard water softeners do not remove nitrate.