By: Pratama Aditya & Natalia T. Agnika

Bumi Panda and Panda Mobile are WWF-Indonesia's tools to educate the public about the environment. Both complement each other and always try to develop content to provide the best information services related to conservation. One of them is through sharing session activities such as the one conducted by the Panda Mobile team on Sunday (10/04). They visited the Water Education Laboratory at Bumi Panda.

The Panda Mobile team directly tried out the water testing facilities there. With an invited facilitator from fellow students of the Chemistry Department of Padjadjaran University Bandung, the Panda Mobile volunteers were introduced to some of the equipment. The first thing they tried was the use of litmus paper. Testing water using litmus paper is done to determine whether the liquid being tested is acidic, alkaline, or neutral.

Next, they tried using a pH meter to determine the acidity value. Several things related to tool maintenance were also shared with the Panda Mobile volunteers, such as having to rinse the pH meter with distilled water before and after testing the water. The tool must also be calibrated periodically in order to get accurate results.

In addition to the pH meter, Panda Mobile volunteers were also introduced to the ppm meter which functions to determine the metal content in the tested water sample in units of "parts per million". As for the dissolved content in water samples, the tool used is electrolysis. Periodically, the diode and cathode on the electrolysis device must be cleaned from rust by sanding it.

The presence of the Panda Mobile team to study the facilities in the Water Laboratory at Panda Earth is expected to help them increase their knowledge and variety of content when sharing information about water to schools. Later, a small-scale water laboratory facility (mini water lab) will also be developed at Panda Mobile.

The Water Laboratory at Bumi Panda, located at Jl. Geusan Ulun No. 3 Dago, Bandung, can be visited on Tuesday-Sunday free of charge.