Suspended Solids the Water Quality Indicator
Brenda Bowen
North Central State College

Abstract Suspended Solids have been shown to have an effect on our environment’s water quality. Polluted water is known as wastewaters. Pollutant’s come from rainwater and melting snow that runs off roofs and road into our wells or lakes and streams. Pollutant’s also come from human, animal and crop waste. Suspended solids are organic particles floating around in the wastewaters, such as algae, bacteria and micro-organisms. There are also non-organic suspended solids such as soil materials, clay and mineral salts. Water samples are taken to an environmental lab to have different test ran. One of the tests done is check the amount and type of suspended solids. This is done by prepping the filters then running the sample of water through a filter pad and calculating the weight.

Introduction Suspensions are particles in a liquid that can be seen and filtered out. The particles that are suspended have weight which causes them to fall to the bottom or to settle out. Suspension is a heterogeneous mixture. For example, if muddy water was stirred up the particles would mix pretty fast, but then would separate the suspended solids/particles and would settle out. Suspended solids are also harmful to aquatic life because the solids absorb heat from the sunlight. When the solids absorb the heat from the sun they deplete the oxygen levels. Suspended solids are also tested in our drinking water.

“Suspended solids the Water Quality Indicator” METHOD: Two samples are collected at the field site and sent an environmental lab. Sample one, is for raw wastewater to indicate how much total solid entered the lab. The second sample is the total solids that are being sent back into the environment. Filters are prepped by setting up a port vacuum manifold and running one-hundred milliliters of deionized water through a glass-fiber filter. The filters are then place in a labeled aluminum tray and place in a drying oven for an hour. The drying oven temperature is 103°-105° C or 217.4°F. After an hour the filters were placed in the desiccator, for about