ReSeArCh ArTiCle

Products containing nitrate/ phosphate are disposed by 15, 278, 808 households, 5, 899 industries and 3, 392, 361 agricultural lands. Products which we use everyday like soaps, detergents, fertilizer and cleaning agents contain nitrate/ phosphate substances. According to Ansar and Khad (2005) phosphates and nitrates could cause algal bloom. Algal bloom means that there are 1000 algae cells in one milliliter of water sample. Algae count could help determine the niters/ phosphate absorption in different bodies of water since there is obvious connection of both. Algal bloom poses real danger to the environment. When this population of Algae die, they use up the oxygen gas that are needed by other organisms which leads to their death in the process. Nitrate/ phosphate substances arrive at different bodies of water through both direct and indirect sources.The water sources used in the study were a lagoon found in Ayala Center Cebu; a river in Kamputhaw; and a well found in T.Padilla. Every water source was affected by both direct and indirect sources. A water sample of 30 mL was taken from each source for five days using the same method all throughout those five days. The samples were also taken during the same time of the day. The algae counts were taken using only a drop from each sample using a light microscope.The counting came up with the following numbers of algae from each sample after five consecutive days of gathering: River having the greatest mean number of algae of 17.4 or 194.88 algae cells per mL while the well had the least having only 2.6 algae cells per drop or 29.12 algae cells per mL of sample. The lagoon had 6.2 algae cells per drop 0r 69.44 algae cells per mL of sample.The study used ANOVA or Analysis of Variance to determine if there is significant difference in the Algae counts of the three samples. The data's significance was tested at a five percent level of significance with (2,12) degrees of freedom and compared them with the tabled value of 3.89. The test came up with an F- ratio of 3.81 which is greater than the tabled value thus the Null Hypothesis was neglected. The action meant that there was no significant difference in their algae counts and there is no significant difference in the river, lagoon, and well in terms of nitrate/ phosphate absorption. It has been also found out during the course of the study that the three sources of water are not contaminated with nitrate/ phosphate since their algae counts are far from the limit of 1000 cells per mL of sample.Out of the data gathered and findings, we therefore conclude that the water sample from Ayala lagoon, Kamputhaw river, and T.Padilla well do not differ. The sources of water have the same amount of nitrate/ phosphate contamination.
Based on our findings and conclusion, we recommend the future researchers to conduct a replication of the study but with more days of gathering the water samples. Another replication of the study may focus on another water sample especially those near factories.