Reliability of Water Quality Test Strips for Field Measurement of Nutrients Essential for Developing Mosquito Larvae

We tested the reliability of water quality test strips for field-analysis of nitrate and phosphate against laboratory-based standard methods for water samples drawn from a variety of natural and artificial sites used by mosquito larvae for development. Nitrate test strip measurements were compared with those from ion chromatographic analysis and an ion-selective electrode. Phosphate test strip measurements were compared to laboratory persulfate digestion followed by an ascorbic acid colorimetric assay. It was concluded that while the standard methods were the most reliable, nitrate-sensitive test strips were acceptable for measuring moderate nitrate concentrations, but phosphate-sensitive test strips were not reliable in measuring the forms of phosphorus available to mosquito larvae.