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MASS SPECTROMETRY FOR RISK MANAGEMENT OF DRINKING WATER TREATMENT; II. DISINFECTION BY-PRODUCTS: HALOACETIC ACIDS
Citation:
Magnuson*, M L. MASS SPECTROMETRY FOR RISK MANAGEMENT OF DRINKING WATER TREATMENT; II. DISINFECTION BY-PRODUCTS: HALOACETIC ACIDS. Abstract of poster presentation at 1999 ASMS Conference.
Description:
Risk management of drinking water relies on quality analytical data. Analytical methodology can often be adapted from environmental monitoring sources. However, risk management sometimes presents special analytical challenges because data may be needed from a source for which no monitoring tool exists. In order to meet this challenge, it has been necessary to develop specific analytical tools. For example, last year at this conference, a poster was presented on results of an analysis designed to measure bromate, a carcinogenic ozone disinfection by-product, from ozone contactor chambers effluents at low parts-per-trillion levels. Haloacetic acids are by-products of the disinfection of drinking water. They are not currently regulated, but are of concern to human health and under consideration for regulation. Of these, monobromo-, monochloro-, dicloro-, dibromo-, bromochloro-, and trichloro- acetic acid are conventionally analyzed by EPA Method 552, involving derivitization followed by GC-ECD determination. When EPA Method 552 is applied to bromodichloro-, dibromochloro-, and tribromo- acetic acid, the result is often unreliable because the derivative is unstable and converts to the corresponding trihalomethane. These three haloacetic acids are of interest with regard to their formation during the treatment of drinking water with chlorine dioxide, chlorine, and ozone. for this reason, the analysis of haloacetic acids by electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was explored. Several ESI-MS methods have appeared in the literature, with varying advantages and challenges to each. The technique presented in this poster combines some advantages of existing methods with the additional element of an on-line reaction, which lessens the effects of derivative instability. Method Detection Limits (MDL) and recoveries from drinking water samples will be investigated.