Water Sampling Test Kit Information

You can find a variety of water testing kits from just about any science catalog (i.e. Sargent-Welsh, Frey Scientific, Nasco, Boreal/Science Kit and many others - look in the Environmental Science section.) You can also order them from suppliers such as LaMotte, Hach, and Chemetrics who all specialize in this type of equipment. The test kits range quite a bit in cost and complexity and you should determine what is most appropriate for your students and your budget.

Web sites for some of the suppliers are shown below. You may be able to see some of their equipment on their web sites or at least get the 800 number to order a catalog. Be sure to request their educational catalog for K-12 students if they have one available.

• LaMotte (http://www.lamotte.com)
• Hach (http://www.hach.com)
• Chemetrics (http://www.chemetrics.com)
  

The students at PS #22 in Jersey City will be using test kits from LaMotte. They range in price from $20 - $70 a test kit, but there are enough supplies to do at least 50 of each test. Some (not all) of the kits from LaMotte may be too difficult for very young students, but again that is best decided by you. Other suppliers may be able to give you less expensive kits that are easier to use but are only a one-time test and also may not give as precise results. Hach and Chemetrics make some simple kits but they can be more costly on a per-test basis. Some tests can be done simply with other supplies. For example, the pH test can be done with pH paper.

If you are not experienced doing water testing, the best advice is to start simply with a few inexpensive and easy to use testing equipment to determine if this is something you want to continue doing with your students. If so, in future years you can upgrade your testing equipment and number of tests you perform.

Finally, ordering and receiving test supplies can take several weeks or longer depending on their back-log. Make sure, if you decide to order anything, that you ask them if they have it in stock and when they will ship it. Its of no use to plan to do a unit on water testing only to find that the equipment doesn't make it in time!