
|
LIRB Pages Home
LIRB NAWQA
Basin
Information
Ground Water
Network Design
Site
Descriptions
Collection
Methods Processing
Methods Results
Literature Cited
Surface
Water
Bed Sediment
& Fish
Tissue Ecology
Maps
Illustrations
Survey Data
Aerial Photography
Publications
Staff
Data
Retrieval
Parent Pages USGS Home
NAWQA
Home
Illinois Water Science Center
Home
| Ground-water sample collection is designed to accomodate improvements in analysis techniques, resulting in data approaching the "parts per trillion" level. Before water samples are taken from a well, at least three well volumes of water are removed. Purging of the well
allows water-quality paramters such as pH,
specific conductance, temperature and dissolved oxygen to stabilize,
ensuring a representative water sample from the formation immediately
surrounding the well screen. Collection is then initiated through a
low-discharge, positive-displacement, submersible pump made of Teflon and
stainless steel. Water is pumped from a well, through Teflon hose to a
protected sampling chamber inside a specially outfitted sampling vehicle.
An anti-back-siphon valve is used to prevent back-flow into the well.
The order in which samples are taken depends on the analyte being
collected: organic analytes (unfiltered, then filtered) are followed by
inorganic analytes (filtered, then unfiltered). Samples are filtered for
inorganics, nutrients, pesticides and dissolved organic carbon. Unfiltered
samples include volatile organic compounds, stable isotopes,tritium and
radon. Quality assurance and quality control also require the periodic
collection of replicate samples, including field blanks and spikes. Personnel to contact about a specific subject are listed on the staff page. U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey 221 North Broadway, Urbana, IL 61801, USA URL: http://il.water.usgs.gov/proj/lirb/gw/collect_method/index.html Maintainer: djfazio@usgs.gov Last modified: 11:13 CST Thurs 11 May 2000 |