Name: Color of Water Checker
Cost: CAD$68
Available at: Manufacturers’ websites
Intended use
The color and appearance of poultry drinking water are essential factors in on-farm observational water tests. Observational tests can guide us in requesting the right mineral and microbiological tests from a water lab. When it comes to color, people might have different judgments based on their vision. That’s why having a standard method in place to detect the color of water is crucial. There are two terms for the color of water: “true color” and “apparent color”. The term ‘‘true color’’ is defined as the color of water from which turbidity has been removed/filtered. The term ‘‘apparent color’’ includes color due to both substances in solution and the suspended matter. Apparent color is determined on the water source sample without filtration or centrifugation. This device can check both true and apparent color in a water sample.
How does it work?
Color is generally an indicator of organics in the water and is readily measured by visual or spectrophotometric methods. Color is measured in Platinum-Cobalt units (PCU). The American Water Works Association (AWWA) recommends less or equal to 15 PCU for drinking water. This device uses a fixed wavelength LED @ 470 nm and silicon photo detector to provide the accuracy of professional instrumentation at the affordable price of a chemical test kit. The method is based on the adaptation of the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 18th edition, Colorimetric Platinum Cobalt method.
Using the device
- Turn the meter on by pressing the button. All segments will be displayed for a few seconds, followed by “Add”, “C.1” with “Press” blinking.
- Fill one cuvette up to the 10 mL mark with deionized water and replace the cap. This is the blank. Insert the cuvette into the checker and close the cap.
- Press the ON/OFF button. When the display shows “Add”, “C.2” with “Press” blinking, the checker is zeroed.
- Fill a second cuvette up to the 10 mL mark with an unfiltered sample and replace the cap. This is the apparent color.
- Insert the cuvette into the checker and close the cap. Press the ON/OFF button. The instrument displays the value of apparent color.
- Remove the cuvette and press the ON/OFF button twice to restart the checker.
- Filter 50 mL of sample through a 0.45 μm membrane filter into a beaker.
- After measurement of apparent color, rinse the cuvette three times with filtered sample and then fill it up to the 10 mL mark with the filtered sample. Replace the cap. This is the true color.
- Follow the procedure above to re-zero the checker using the blank cuvette.
- Insert the cuvette into the checker and close the cap. Press the ON/OFF button. The instrument displays concentration in color units of the true color. The checker automatically turns off 2 minutes after reading.
Mohammad was the PIP team Research Associate (2021-2024) with extensive experience in poultry nutrition. He wrote science articles for newsletters and worked on developing adaptations and recommendations to support the adoption of new managerial tools, products, services, and practices by the poultry industry.
Looking at his poultry industry perspective, Mohammad has been serving the poultry industry through his extensive experience in feed formulation as an animal nutritionist over the past ten years. He was also a university lecturer for 10 years. Mohammad was a member of the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) at the U of A. Mohammad graduated with a Ph.D. degree in Animal Science from the University of Alberta with a Postdoctoral fellowship before moving to his Research Associate position with the PIP team. Serving the poultry industry as an animal nutritionist for more than a decade, Mohammad loves teaching and worked as a university lecturer in Iran and a teaching assistant at the U of A. Mohammad was inspired by Dr. Frank Robinson, practicing the inquiry-based learning method when working as a TA in his “Principles of Animal Agriculture” class. “I have a strong passion on poultry nutrition and have always loved to help poultry producers with optimizing the poultry systems. The challenging part of working with live animals is that you need to be on call even as a nutritionist. However, the joy of seeing healthy animals and help with their welfare overcome the challenging part.”
