Hi Bob, Accurate ...

Published May 25, 2017 02:39 by Matthew Brannock, Technical Director at Salt Water & AqMB Software

Hi Bob,

Accurate measurement of bicarbonate of groundwater can be difficult in general due to the potential for CO2 off-gassing once sampled. One method is to measure the pH in the field in situ and then analyse for total alkalinity in the laboratory (ensuring no CaCO3 etc precipitation occurs). From the two you can then calculate what the bicarbonate/carbonate/hydroxide etc split of total alkalinity would be. Speciation software like PhreeqC can be used to make this calculation a little easier.

Cheers,

Matt.

Dr Matthew Brannock CEng, CSci, MIChemE, RPEQ

matthew@saltwatersolutions.com.au