The problem with cookie detection and analytical chemistry is that detection is not perfect-there is a gray area, a range that is semiquantitative. The problem can be minimized by improving detection ability, but neither cookie detectors nor NWQL can achieve detection capability that quantitates zero. The NWQL is proposing to use LT-MDLs and NDVs together to communicate ranges of certainty and uncertainty of measurements. That data will be used by someone. Data interpretation will always be an issue.
Users can bias results either by ignorance or by design.
Unfortunately, few tools exist to help users interpret data and calculate statistics for a mixture of semiquantitative, nonquantitative, and quantitative data. Bernadine Bonn, Hydrologist.