Historical profile, Quality of Water Laboratories, U. S. Geological Survey

Abstract

Historical profile of quality of water laboratories and activities, 1879-1973 11••Enclosed is a copy of op~n-file report 78-432 entitled ''Historical Profile of Quality of Water Laboratories and Activities, 1879-1973''. This report was prepared by W. H. Durum with input from many individuals throughout the Di~ision. It is one of a series of planned reports aimed at documenting the history of water-quality data collection activities .within the Water Resources Division. District personnel and other data users have found this type of information to be essential for the proper analysis of water-quality dat~ for long-term trends.Two additonal reports are in preparation. They will present: (l) a profile of cooperator-or other State-supported laboratories that have contributed significant bodies of historical water-quality data through our district programs and (2) a history of analytical methods used ~o acquire v.Jater-quality data.for Division programs that will include a statement on the precision associated with each method. The many changes that have taken place in the. water-quality field make it imperative that we document the water-quality •methodology and techniques that \'.Jere used by Division hydrologists in the past before that information is lost to us, so that these factors• can be considered when making evaluations of historical water-quality data.We feel that Walt Durum•has done a very fine job of documenting the 95 years of water quality activities from 1879-1973. Of necessity, the level of effort was such that some important details may have been omitted and some statements may need correction ~r expansion. We would appreciate comments that will help us correct the historical documentation found in this report. After the next two reports have been completed, a fi na 1 summary report \-' li 11 be prepared which wi 11 incorporate a 11 needed revisions. Please send any comments you may have to the Analytical Services Coordinator, Mail Stop 412, Reston, Virginia.22092. We encourage district offices to give copies of this report to their cooperators with a request for comments on the correctness of the data in the report that pertain to their programs or facilities. Between our cooperators and our WRD :field personnel, we hope to be able to identify all State-supported or cooperator laboratories that should be interviewed and written up. Our. intention is to cover 85 percent of the historical water-quality data collected through WRD programs in that state.

Environmental characteristics and water quality of hydrologic benchmark network stations in the Eastern United States, 1963-95

“…Ion balance was calculated only for samples with complete chemical analyses. The water-quality records also were inspected for bias that may have been introduced by sampling or analytical methods and were compared to the chronology of activities and analytical methods that were used by USGS laboratories (Durum, 1978;Fishman and others, 1994) and to operational guidelines for the HBN that were documented in a series of USGS technical memoranda, which are available at URL http://water.usgs.gov/ admin/memo/. Interpretation of the data was aided by the use of time-series plots.…”

NITRATE CONCENTRATIONS IN ILLINOIS RIVERS 1967 TO 1974: COMPARISON AMONG REPORTING AGENCIES1

“…By the late 1960s, both the USGS and the ISWS had more than six decades of experience with water quality monitoring that included attention to QA/QC procedures (Bartow and Rogers, 1909;Durum, 1978). Although there have been changes in methods used to measure riverine NO 3 since 1971, these changes do not appear to have caused significant shifts in the accuracy of measured NO 3 concentrations (Goolsby et al, 1999).…”

Concepts for a National Water-Quality Assessment Program

“…Geological Survey involvement in water-quality investigations dates back to the latter part of the 19th century. Initial water-quality investigations were directed toward the suitability of water for domestic consumption, irrigation, and industrial use (Durum, 1978). The first major Geological Survey report addressing water quality was on the use of sewage for irrigation of crops (Rafter, 1897).…”