Haloacetic acids (HAAs) are among disinfection byproducts that are produced
during chlorination of water containing natural organic matter and bromide. Five
HAAs are currently regulated in finished drinking water by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The
methods that are approved for compliance monitoring include USEPA Method 552.1,
552.2, 552.3 and Standard Method 6251B. These methods are fairly challenging
and time consuming as each requires an extraction and derivatization procedure,
which is followed by gas chromatography (GC) with electron capture detection
(ECD) using a procedural calibration technique. Ion chromatography-mass
spectrometry (IC-MS/MS) offers a sensitive and selective alternative that does
not require sample pretreatment or procedural calibration. Water samples are
directly injected into an ion chromatograph coupled to a triple quadrupole mass
spectrometer. This method is currently being evaluated by the USEPA at the Office of
Ground Water and Drinking Water's laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio as Method 557.
Water samples from three separate sources were used to compare HAA
amounts using USEPA 552 and the new method under validation, USEPA 557.
Excellent peak resolution and linearity are achieved for analyte concentrations
that range between 0.4 µg/L and 100 µg/L in a matrix containing up to 250 mg/L
each of chloride and sulfate, and 30 mg/L of nitrate. Using <sup>13</sup>CClH<sub>2</sub>COOH as an
internal standard, the detection limit is less than 0.4 µg/L for each of the five
regulated HAAs and less than 1 µg/L for the other four. No significant matrix
effects are observed in the synthetic matrix, and recoveries of all nine HAAs are
greater than 90% for both methods. Using spike recoveries of all nine HAA's,
variability between methods was between 70 and 130% for most determinations. Includes tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
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| Number of Pages : | 40 |
| Published : | 11/01/2009 |