Putting Life into a Dry Table

Mastering the units and data quality concepts discussed in this chapter is absolutely necessary in order to proceed with the remaining chapters in this book, and to enjoy hydrochemistry. 

A new hydrochemical study, commenced in Wonderland, included the collection of five identical sample bottles from the Wisdom Spring. They were transferred to a laboratory at different dates for determination of major dissolved ions the data are given in Table 5.4. What can be deduced, or calculated, in light of the data quality concepts and data processing approaches discussed in the previous sections  

Sending several bottles of the same water provides the data needed to calculate the laboratory s reproducibility (section 5.7). This procedure is recommended at the beginning of a hydrochemical study, when using a new laboratory, or as a periodic check of a known laboratory (section 5.9). 

From the data of Table 5.4 it can be seen that the chlorine value of sample 1 is significantly higher than the chlorine values of the other four samples. An inquiry to the laboratory may reveal that it was a typographical error, and 43.2 should be corrected to 4.32. The mean sodium value is 

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