Eutrophication: the Difference Between Inorganic and Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Eutrophication is a potential problem in any body of water containing algae. The process of eutrophication causes an increased growth in algae due to the addition of nutrients, both organic and inorganic, which can ultimately lead to a decrease of dissolved oxygen in the water. We are adding both inorganic and organic pollutants to different water samples with varying levels of algae exposure to test our hypothesis that inorganic pollutants in higher algae content cause lower levels of dissolved oxygen. Our experiment was kept neutral because we used waters with both high and low concentrations of algae. From this experiment we found that High Nutrient concentrated water showed a more significant dissolved oxygen content than Low Nutrient water when inorganic and organic pollutants were added.