Despite the difficulty of theoretical interpretation, measured conductivity is a good indicator of the presence or absence of conductive ions in solution, and measurements are used extensively in many industries. For example, conductivity measurements are used to monitor quality in public water supplies, in hospitals, in boiler water and industries that depend on water quality such as brewing. This type of measurement is not ion-specific; it can sometimes be used to determine the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) if the composition of the solution and its conductivity behavior are known. Conductivity measurements made to determine water purity will not respond to non conductive contaminants (many organic compounds fall into this category), therefore additional purity tests may be required depending on application.
Applications of TDS measurements are not limited to industrial use; many people use TDS as an indicator of the purity of their drinking water. Additionally, aquarium enthusiasts are concerned with TDS, both for freshwater and salt water aquariums. Many fish and invertebrates require quite narrow parameters for dissolved solids. Especially for successful breeding of some invertebrates normally kept in freshwater aquariums—snails and shrimp primarily—brackish water with higher TDS, specifically higher salinity, water is required. While the adults of a given species may thrive in freshwater, this is not always true for the young and some species will not breed at all in non-brackish water.
Sometimes, conductivity measurements are linked with other methods to increase the sensitivity of detection of specific types of ions. For example, in the boiler water technology, the boiler blowdown is continuously monitored for "cation conductivity", which is the conductivity of the water after it has been passed through a cation exchange resin. This is a sensitive method of monitoring anion impurities in the boiler water in the presence of excess cations (those of the alkalizing agent usually used for water treatment). The sensitivity of this method relies on the high mobility of H in comparison with the mobility of other cations or anions.  Beyond cation conductivity, there are analytical instruments designed to measure Degas conductivity, where conductivity is measured after dissolved carbon dioxide has been removed from the sample, either through reboiling or dynamic degassing.
Conductivity detectors are commonly used with ion chromatography.