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Reliability of Analyses of Hg, Fe, Ca, K, P, pH, Alkalinity, Conductivity, Hardness and Colour from Lakes
Author(s) -
Håkanson Lars,
Borg Hans,
Uhrberg Roland
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
internationale revue der gesamten hydrobiologie und hydrographie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1522-2632
pISSN - 0020-9309
DOI - 10.1002/iroh.19900750108
Subject(s) - alkalinity , standard deviation , conductivity , reliability (semiconductor) , standard error , water quality , relative standard deviation , analytical chemistry (journal) , statistics , mathematics , environmental science , chemistry , environmental chemistry , physics , ecology , thermodynamics , detection limit , biology , power (physics) , organic chemistry
The aim of this report has been to present results concerning analytical quality controls of Hg analysis of fish and sediment, analyses of Fe, Ca, total‐P, K, pH, alkalinity, conductivity, colour and hardness (Ca + Mg) of lake water samples. Despite the fact that these are standard parameters in many regular water control programs, there are major differences in the reliability with which these parameters can be determined. The focus here is on an overall inter‐laboratory comparison between the parameters. Six laboratories have been involved in the analysis. Selected results: pH gives the lowest (average) relative standard deviation (error), about 2 %; conductivity gives an error of about 5–7 %; alkalinity yields an average error of as much as 13–25 %, which is the largest among the parameters studied here; colour also gives a high error, 9–15 %; hardness gives a relative standard deviation of about 6–7 %. Of the other parameters (i. e., Hg, Fe, Ca and P), Hg gives the best reliability and Fe and P the lowest. To have knowledge of the reliability of the analytical data is of paramount importance in most control programs and research projects.