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Is the Filtration of Groundwater Important?

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Is the filtration of groundwater important?
Charity Palmer
SCI 207: Dependence of Man of the Environment
Instructor Holly Dust
July 27th 2014

Abstract
Industrialization and increasing demands on agriculture around the world is rapidly polluting our ground water. The human population depends on ground water as our biggest source of drinking water. A few simple experiments have been done to find out what changes some of the contaminants cause in the ground water. Samples of tap water and bottled water were analyzed for safety. Chemicals such as oil, vinegar, and liquid detergent cause odor changes and color changes in the water samples. Using sand, charcoal and rocks formed a filtration system that was used to simulate how water is filtered. Tap water turned out to be the safest water to drink, which was rather surprising. The tap water had less contamination than the bottled water during the experiment.
Introduction
Clean water is a major necessity for our lives. Three-quarters of the Earth’s surface is covered by water making clean water for drinking and cooking an important issue. The majority of water on our planet is comprised of salt water found in the oceans. That leaves only three percent of the water on Earth freshwater. (Dale 2011) Human beings used 69.3 gallons of water per individual each day on average. (Dale 2011) Water is used to do our laundry, wash our cars, feed our pets, water the gardens and lawns we have. Water is used for us to take showers and baths not to mention what the farmers need water for. The wildlife need fresh water to drink. Unfortunately, clean and drinkable water is not always easy to get. Waterborne diseases are blamed for over a million deaths each year in developing countries, because clean water is so hard to come by. (Dale 2011) Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water. Groundwater

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