City of Houston Texas getting duped?

[c0rbin]

I posted this in Banter at first, but now I have enough information to post it in a more specific sub-forum (here in science).

I heard on the radio this morning that the City of Houston was gong to spend $150,000 on some technology that detects chemicles in water. I immeadiatly thought of the scams that have cropped up in this regard and Carl Sagan's doomsaying from DHW that few scientists make it into government bodies here in the US.

I am not educated enough, but it looks legitimate to me. ANyone have any knowledge in this arena?

Here is the link to the Syagen Technology site - http://www.syagen.com/

[arcticpenguin]

As I said over in Banter, I don't see any red flags on the Syagen web site. TOF (Time of Flight) Mass Spec is a legitimate technology. I haven't heard of "Photo-ionization" in Mass Spec, but it doesn't sound unbelievable.

I don't see any reason to believe they are woo-woo.

[arcticpenguin]

Oh - and the price is not out of line for a top notch MS system.

[garys_2k]

It looks legit. A good MS system can detect parts per billion of contaminants, so IF this is a good one it could be well applied technology.

But why didn't they just invest in a Life Force Meter for three hundred bucks?

[c0rbin]

Cool.

The news report made it sound like it could detect almost anything in a matter of seconds versus the four-hour test version in the lab.

"almost anything" makes my skeptic ears tingle.

Thanks for the eye-balls.

[DogB]

Certainly nothing unusual. Any decent water testing laboratory should have MS (usually GCMS). I'm sitting about 20 feet from one right now.

They are particularly good at identifying organic contaminants.

Dog.