By Layla Cruz Martinez, Brooke Johnson, Elizabeth Tyler, and Owen White

Faculty Mentor: Sarah Smith

Abstract

Roadways are known to be a source of heavy metals in the environment, thus, the purpose of this experiment is to quantify the amount of zinc and copper in a river near a roadway and a mountain spring that is not in close proximity to a roadway. This was done using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and lab made standards for both copper and zinc to quantify the levels of copper and zinc in both rivers. It is expected that the sample of water from the river in close proximity to a road will have higher levels of these metals than the spring water. Results will be compared to the EPA drinking water standards.