Introduction Bunker fuel has been used in boats for a number of years now however it has only recently bee discovered that the fuel could actually be harming our waterways. When there is excessive amounts of bunker fuel in a waterway it can acidify the water. This means that when the waterway goes through it’s hydrological cycle (figure 1) and the water evaporates into the atmosphere and returns in (Water Cycle, 2012) rain form it creates acid rain. When acid rain occurs in an area for a prolonged amount of time it can have dire effects on the environment such as; lack of nutrients in the soil and in the waterways, it kills the surrounding trees and it can also poison the fish (Nelson Tulane, S, n.d.). To test if our local waterways are too acidic due to bunker fuel water samples from Waterfall Gully, Port River and Johnstons Creek. These will then be tested with the pH scale to find out the results. Method …show more content…
After heading up to the lab 12 x 250ml beakers were grabbed as well as; a glass stirring rod, universal indicator, a pH scale, a pH probe and 200ml of each water sample. 50ml of each sample was poured into the twelve separate beakers with five drops of universal indicator which was stirred in with the glass stirrer. Once the water had settled to a singular colour it was compared to the pH scale which showed how acidic the water is. This was done with all 12 beakers. Then, the pH probe was grabbed and used in each of the 12 beakers to