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Oil on Canvas
24” x 28” – March 2019

An important way of understanding the content and quality of fresh water bodies and drinking water is by estimating the total number of dissolved solids in the liquid. This can be done by measuring the electrical conductivity of the water, which detects the electrical current passing between dissolved ions. These ions have positive or negative charges, and can be salts or metallic compounds or elements. While a certain level of conductivity in a fresh water body is normal (in salt water it is naturally very high), and varies between water bodies, any significant temporal changes in conductivity can represent contamination and/or degradation of the water, through human activities such as mining and intensive agriculture, or natural processes such as the erosion of soil (which also may be caused by human activities such as deforestation).

This painting communicates the concept of the electrical conductivity of freshwater through displaying a variety of chemical compounds that represent dissolved ions within a flowing river.