Acute toxicity screening methods may be effective tools, when properly applied, to
ensure the security of drinking water treatment, storage and distribution systems. While these
systems are experiencing wide-spread use by utilities in the United States, limited information
has been published in the open literature (States et. al., 2003 and 2004) regarding the sensitivity
of these methods to acutely toxic substances in a water sample and the practical detection limits
for these systems in water treatment and distribution systems.
In addition to the acute toxicity screening methods discussed above, there is also a need
for field concentration methods to facilitate rapid detection of specific pathogens during drinking
water security incidents. These methods also could be used by a variety of first responders. The
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is currently developing and testing a
field concentration method based on ultrafiltration. This USEPA method will allow
concentration of large volumes of water in the field. In the interim, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer
Authority (PWSA) and the University of Pittsburgh have developed a simple reliable method for
field concentration of smaller volumes of environmental samples in water treatment and
distribution systems. This field concentration method can be used to improve the sensitivity of
rapid Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methods as well as other assays. Includes 5 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 370 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 18 |
| Published : | 06/17/2004 |
