Show 0 FIELD METHODS IN WATER ANALYSIS in the examination of the water resources of the united states one of the most important features is the determination of the character of ground and surface waters the essential characteristics of waters that are now or that at some time in the future may be used for domestic supply or in locomotive boilers are little known except within lifted areas in the eastern part of the country where the population per square mile is largest chemical surveys have been made that have yielded information of great value many railroads in the united states maintain chemical laboratories and the results of the analyses of water found along the various rights of way furnish a clear conception of the character of the available waters along these narrow lines the work involved in a chemical survey however as it has been carried on in the past is necessarily expensive and exceedingly slow and there has been great need of rapid and practical field methods whereby a large number of analyses can be made at small cost the work of making all the determinations that are usually considered necessary in chemical analyses would in the wide area covered toy by the united states be so expensive as to be well nigh impracticable but it is reasonable to believe that out of the many determinations usually made in such analyses a few important ones can be selected which shall bear such a relation to the whole that they will give a clear insight into the character of the waters tested the united states geological survey is now considering these points with especial reference to the possibility of devising methods of determination which can be carried on in the field and which shall be sufficiently accurate for most purposes the experience of the survey thus f far ar is that a large number of determinations of approximate accuracy are in the aggregate far mor useful than a few determinations made according to refined methods acting along these lines the survey has endeavored to interest the attention of various chemists in the country in this matter and a widespread discussion has been carried on concerning the most useful determination and the most advantageous means by which rapid and approximately accurate results can be reached the opinions of these chemists are being collected and from them there is in process of construction st a scheme by which large areas can be chemically surveyed these inquiries cover organic as well as the inorganic determinations and therefore the scope of the work will be such as to meet the needs of those interested in domestic water supply as well as of those who are seeking information concerning the best waters for use in boilers A number of methods for field analysis have already been proposed and are being practically tested and there is reason to believe that within a short time this work will have advanced to a point at which it can be placed before the various chemical authorities in the country as a practicable system and a widespread chemical survey of almost incalculable value will have been set on foot |