What would be a potential result of poor sample preservation?

Poor sample preservation can lead to the alteration of the chemical composition of a sample over time. This degradation might cause certain pollutants to break down while others could form due to environmental changes, resulting in artificially inflated or deflated measurements of pollutant levels. Thus, the readings obtained from the analysis may not accurately reflect the true conditions of the sample environment at the time of collection, leading to significantly misleading conclusions. Therefore, the answer highlighting false readings of pollutant levels directly addresses the fundamental issues that arise from inadequate preservation methods.