Water Quality Hog Waterer Science Fair Projects

Methods/Materials

Washed cow nutrient agar prepared plates were used. The testing of water was organized into for different samples run every 24h for a six week period of time. Sterile inoculating loops were used to attain a sample of each of the waterers tested.

The plate was placed in an incubator for 24h and colonies of bacteria were counted. At the end of a 4-day testing period the containers of water were emptied and left to air dry for a 2d period. One hundred separate trials were conducted.

Results

There was no significant difference between water autoclaved and water standing in automatic hog waterers over a four day period.

Conclusions/Discussion

Mammals exist because of certain bacteria (Howard, 2004). Some medical practitioners say that we don't live in a sterile environment, that there are bacteria all around us, and that we shouldn't expect our water to be sterile either (Dooley, 2001). Although the data did not support the hypothesis, which was that the number of bacterial colonies in samples A, B, C and D would increase over time it is of little concern that water sits for four days or less in automatic hog waterers. 3rd party contributor