DETERMINING THE WATER QUALITY AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY-PURDUE UNIVERSITY FORT WAYNE (IPFW) USING WELL DATA

Water contamination is a prevalent topic in today’s world. Everyone needs water to survive, and water free of contaminants is essential to providing a healthy and comfortable way of life for the human populous. To determine the level of contamination of groundwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana, water level, pH, temperature, and conductivity were measured in four wells on the Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) campus and the adjacent channel. Also determined were the nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and phosphate levels. The USEPA maximum suggested acceptable levels are 10.0, 1.0, 250.0, and 5.0 mg/l for nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and phosphate respectively. The data was collected over an 8-month period. The results show that all parameters tested were within the USEPA acceptable drinking water limits (averages are shown in parentheses). Nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and phosphate levels range between 0.0-296.3 (3.0), 0.0-0.01 (.004), 0.0-252.0 (67.4), 0.0-7.9 (1.9) mg/l respectively. The pH was between 4.8-10.2 (7.1) and the conductivity values range between 111-1118 (674.4) ppm. The overall results show that the waters at IPFW are good for drinking. This is an ongoing study and newer results will be presented.