Chemistry
Our onsite chemistry lab is essential to the IISD-ELA monitoring program and is tasked with maintaining high-quality data standards.
Water quality monitoring is the flagship of IISD-ELA programming. Lakes in the area often have very low concentrations of nutrients that are difficult to measure. Many techniques were developed at the IISD-ELA in the early 1970’s to deal with these challenges and are still in use today.
Rain and snow inputs are major sources of nutrient additions for lakes at IISD-ELA, since precipitation is an indicator of atmospheric loading. Precipitation samples are collected year round and analyzed to monitor external outputs into our lakes.
IISD-ELA operates a service lab onsite for processing and analyzing the following parameters:
- pH
- Conductivity
- Alkalinity
- Turbidity
- Nitrite
- Nitrate
- Ammonia
- Total dissolved nitrogen
- Total dissolved phosphorus
The following parameters are analyzed off-site in a partner laboratory:
- Dissolved Organic Carbon
- Particulate iron
- Particulate carbon
- Particulate nitrogen
- Chloride and sulfate
- Major cations (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Mn, Fe)
See our data request page for more information.