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A laboratory also may report concentrations of constituents in parts per million (ppm)
or parts per billion (ppb). The ppm unit can be thought of as milligrams of solute per
million milligrams of solution (water), or as milligrams of solute per kilogram of
solution:
Equating the units of mass per kilogram and mass per liter is appropriate for a dilute
solution such as irrigation water. That's because, except for highly saline water, the
density of water is very close to 1.00 kilograms per liter. (For brines and other waters
of extremely high salinity, it is necessary to account for the higher-than-unity solution
density. However, brines are not considered in detail here, as they are never suitable
as irrigation water.)
Concentration data reported in milligrams per liter (mg/L) can be converted to mill
equivalents per liter (meq/L), and vice versa. Simply use the following formula:
1
mg/L = meq/L equivalent weight (see table)
Sample calculation
A water chemistry report from a commercial lab shows that the sulfate concentration
of a sample is 24 ppm. Assuming the sample was drawn from an irrigation well or
canal, convert the ppm measurement to mg/L and meq/L.
Answer:
Because the sample is irrigation water, it is of relatively low salinity and we can
safely assume the solution's density is 1.00. Therefore, the concentration reported in
ppm can be expressed just as well in milligrams per liter. The result is 24 mg/L.
Using the equation above and the equivalent weight for sulfate,