Keeping water supplies clean requires regular measurement of levels of pollutants.

Keeping water supplies clean requires regular measurement of levels of pollutants. The measurements are indirect- a typical analysis involves forming a dye by a chemical reaction with the dissolved pollutant, then passing light through the solution and measuring its " absorbence." To calibrate such measurements, the laboratory measures known standard solutions and uses regression to relate absorbence and pollutant concentration. This is usually done every day. Here is one series of data on the absorbence for different levels of nitrates. Nitrates are measured in centigrams per liter of water.