An Experiment to Investigate Effects of Water Pollutants Such As Phosphorous and Nitrogen on the Growth of Algae

An Experiment to Investigate Effects of Water Pollutants Such As Phosphorous and Nitrogen on the Growth of Algae
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An Experiment to Investigate Effects of Water Pollutants Such As Phosphorous and Nitrogen on the Growth of Algae
Abstract
Water pollution has become a daily phenomenon in the ecosystem today. The human activities have been the major contributing agents of water pollution in a number of ways. For example, activities such as farming, sewage systems and urban drainage have proven to be the primary origin of chemicals and other pollutants which drains into the fresh water rivers and lakes. Most common pollutants are nitrogen and phosphorous, which causes rapid growth on algae when they are in excess. On the contrary some pollutants like acid rain decreases the growth of algae when there concentration in water increases. An experiment was conducted to investigate the rate of absorbance (At 450 nm) of control versus pollutants treatment by concentration and lab group to measure the growth rate of algae under different pollutants concentration using a spectrometer. Through the laboratory experiment, it was asserted that that growth of algae increases with increase in the concentration of pollutants; nitrogen and phosphorus but decreases with the increases in the concentration of acid rain.
Introduction
Water pollution or contamination has become one of the major environmental degradation over the the past two decades. The common type of water pollution is known as organic population, whereby most of the pollutants contents are organic materials that contaminates the aquatic ecosystem leading to eutrophication in the long run (Manivanan, 2014). Organic pollution is triggered when organic compounds from sources such as irrigations drainage, sewers, small rivers and other sources drains into large water bodies such as dams, rivers, lake and oceans. Particularly, the organic pollutants originates from domestic sewages, urban drainages, farm irrigation as well as industrial effluents (Manivanan, 2014). The pollutants can contaminate the waters in many negative ways. Once the organic compounds drains into the fresh water lakes and rivers, it starts to decompose and dissolve the oxygen present in water, hence causing a quick depletion of oxygen especially when there is a slower outlet volume of water. As a result, it causes massive degradation on the aquatic biotic (Manivanan, 2014). In addition, the pollutants are characterized with solid components, which interferes with light penetration that is essential for photosynthesis of organism such as algae and other aquatic plants.
The basic biology of the study is pinned on the objectives of the experiment, which is the science behind algae. Over the years, algae has become an essential organism that is used as an indicator of aquatic pollution. The algae are useful because they possess a component of biological importance for experimenting programs for assessing water quality (Ellis, 2013). In particular, the organism is appropriate for water quality evaluation due to their high demand for nutrients, high growth and rapid reproduction. Their sensitivity to changes in water conditions and chemistry, makes algae a v...