MikeC
Closed Account
On ASW's home page there is a link to a 2009 Phoenix Air Particulates Lab report with some of the usual alarming stats, and some confusing info.
It starts with some bar charts purporting to show the amount of various elements found in their samples compared with the "Maximum Contaminant Limit" - eg Aluminium is shown with 30,000ppm found, vs a MCL of 2ppm.
At het bottom of the report is a table giving some values for the various materials - some are given as ppm, others as a percentage - eg Aluminiuum is shown as "3.9%", which they have translated to 39,000ppm for the graph - fair enough.
A few lines lower is a link to Arizona soil air & water charts, and here's the intersting bit -
they also make this statement in regard to particulate samples taken with HEPA filters from the air.
Essentially they have invented their own limits for soil and particulate samples!
So back to their actual measurements - they have found that their soil is 3.9% aluminium......and what do we know about the prevalence of aluminium in the earth's crust? That is makes up about 8% of it....so they are complainng that their soil has roughly half the average amount of aluminium!
I find the combination of dishonesty and stupidity breath taking!
It starts with some bar charts purporting to show the amount of various elements found in their samples compared with the "Maximum Contaminant Limit" - eg Aluminium is shown with 30,000ppm found, vs a MCL of 2ppm.
At het bottom of the report is a table giving some values for the various materials - some are given as ppm, others as a percentage - eg Aluminiuum is shown as "3.9%", which they have translated to 39,000ppm for the graph - fair enough.
A few lines lower is a link to Arizona soil air & water charts, and here's the intersting bit -
We have designated the "Maximum Contaminant Level", or toxic limit, of these materials in the soil to be twice that for surface water.
they also make this statement in regard to particulate samples taken with HEPA filters from the air.
Essentially they have invented their own limits for soil and particulate samples!
So back to their actual measurements - they have found that their soil is 3.9% aluminium......and what do we know about the prevalence of aluminium in the earth's crust? That is makes up about 8% of it....so they are complainng that their soil has roughly half the average amount of aluminium!
I find the combination of dishonesty and stupidity breath taking!