What does the term detection limit mean?
Most regulatory agency approved analytical methods have a minimum quantity that can be determined with a particular degree of certainty under the conditions used to develop the test methods. This minimum quantity is referred to as the method detection limit (MDL). Since analytical methods are developed using reagent grade water, purified soils and the like, and they have not been tested or applied to all possible types of environmental samples, MDLs do not necessarily represent the minimum quantity that can be determined in real world environmental matrices.
