ABSTRACT
There are clients who spend thousands of dollars on getting the most sophisticated
and expensive testing performed on a water sample, which may not actually
represent the critical conditions that are occurring at the sampled site. Generally,
considerable thought has to be given in sampling the water well since here is
Pandora’s Box that is created by the question: “what is it that needs to be sampled?”
Most of the biomass may be attached to a surface which means that the water flow
may not reflect this biomass at all unless the biomass is detaching and moving into
the water. If the biomass does detach, then the biology and chemistry of the sampled
water will change dramatically. If the well has just been powered up, then there
would be turbulence in the well, which will bring up the deposits that have collected
at the bottom of the borehole. These would swirl up and become a part of the sample.
Such a sample would contain a lot of particulates, causing false chemistry and would
tell nothing about the quality of the water itself.
