Water Analyses

MAS specializes in a specific variety of inorganic water sampling, testing and analyses services for the mining industry designed to meet the requirements of the PADEP and their guideline that mine operators analyze water samples down to the levels of the EPA Clean Drinking Water standards. More specifically, this guideline is that the laboratory Lower Quantitative Limit (LQL) for each element being analyzed (i.e. any resulting analysis preceded by a "<" sign) is less than the EPA Maximum Concentration Level (MCL), even for samples containing high levels of contaminants such as acid mine drainage.

MAS's water analysis procedures ensure compliance with the PADEP requirements through a combination of general chemistry, optical emission spectrophotometry and mass spectrophotometry as follows:



EPA Contaminant MCL EPA Type Units Method
Acidity n/a n/a mg/l sm 2310b
Alkalinity n/a n/a mg/l sm 2310b
Aluminum 0.2 Secondary mg/l 200.7
Ammonia Nitrogen n/a n/a mg/l 350.1
Antimony 0.006 Primary mg/l 200.8
Arsenic 0.05 Primary mg/l 200.8
Barium 2 Primary mg/l 200.7
Beryllium 0.004 Primary mg/l 200.7
Boron n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Cadmium 0.005 Primary mg/l 200.8
Calcium n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Chloride 250 Secondary mg/l sm 4500-cl
Chromium 0.1 Primary mg/l 200.7
Cobalt n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Conductivity n/a n/a mg/l sm 2510b
Copper 1.3 Primary mg/l 200.7
Fluoride 4 Primary mg/l
Iron 0.3 Secondary mg/l 200.7
Lead 0.015 Primary mg/l 200.8
Magnesium n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Manganese 0.05 Secondary mg/l 200.7
Mercury 0.002 Primary mg/l 245.1
Molybdenum n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Nickel n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Nitrate 10 Primary mg/l 353.2
Nitrite 1 Primary mg/l 353.2
pH 6.5 Secondary SU sm 4500h-b
Potassium n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Selenium 0.05 Primary mg/l 200.8
Silver 0.1 n/a mg/l 200.7
Sodium n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Sulfate 250 Secondary mg/l 375.2
Suspended Solids n/a n/a mg/l usgs i-3765
Thallium 0.002 Primary mg/l 200.8
Dissolved Solids 500 Secondary mg/l usgs i-1749
Vanadium n/a n/a mg/l 200.7
Zinc 5 Secondary mg/l 200.7
  1. Lower Quantitative Limit (LQL) - The "<" sign indicates the lowest point (in mg/l) along the calibration curve (defined by measuring an instrument's response to the analyses of three to five standards) where the relative standard deviation is <20% for the response factors and where the line has a correlation coefficient of at least 0.99.

  2. Maximum Concentration Level (MCL) - The maximum level to which an instrument needs to respond for a particular analyte.  This is determined by the project objectives, e.g. EPA drinking water MCL's.