Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics of natural water

Abstract

Most of the text of the first edition of this publication, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1473Paper , was written in 1955Paper and 1956.When the plans were being made for the report a few years earlier, the expectation was that it would be used within the U.S. Geological Survey for the most part as a guide for field investigators to help in determining and interpreting the chemical quality of water resources.At the same time, however, a substantial increase of interest and activity in the fields of natural-water chemistry and waterrpollution control was beginning to be noticeable, and, as a result, when the report was published in 1959, it soon attained a considerably wider circulation than had originally been anticipated.A series of reprintings was necessary.This revision of the earlier book has been prepared because of the continued and still-growing interest in the subject matter.The first edition is now seriously out of date.It no longer gives a satisfactory indication of present-day techniques of water-analysis interpretation or of the state of development of the field of water chemistry.This revision has two principal objectives: (1) to outline more completely the principles and processes, chemical and environmental, which shape and control the chemical composition of natural water and (2) to bring the discussions of chemistry of individual constituents, methods of data interpretation, and associated bibliographic references up to date.It is to be expected that most potential users of this book will have some chemical training.In any event, it seems inappropriate for anyone without such training to specialize in the interpretation of chemical data.Accordingly, a somewhat more extensive use of theoretical chemistry has been introduced here as compared to the earlier edition.The book should still be useful to the nonchemist, however, and it is nowhere very demanding in either a chemical or a mathematical sense.The interdisciplinary nature of the field requires the introduction of much material which can be discussed only briefly.Many of the concepts which are introduced will be familiar to the reader, and supplementary material referred to in the bibliography should enable him to obtain more information on various topics.The state of knowledge of the field covered here is rapidly improving, but broad areas remain where little serious research has been done.