Chemical Systems Laboratory, under a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, Edison, N.J. has developed a kit to detect hazardous material spills into waterways. The purpose of the program was to develop a man-portable field kit able to detect (not necessarily identify) as many contaminants in water in as low a concentration as possible. A list of compounds, representative of potential contaminants, was used to evaluate commercial, military and specially designed procedures which have application to water testing. Following the original screening, promising methods were further evaluated against samples of natural waters polluted in the laboratory with compounds from the model list. It was concluded that a selection of 15 multiple non-specific detection systems could be organized into a detection concept which would detect a significant portion of potential contaminants. A 'paper analysis' projected that about 85% of potential contaminants would respond to at least one detection parameter. A field kit was designed containing a spectrophotometer, conductivity meter, pH meter and a variety of accessory equipment and reagents. Prototype kits were fabricated and delivered to Environmental Protection Agency along with engineering drawings, parts lists and manuals.

EPA Contract No. Contract Number: EPA-IAG-0546. "March 1978." Includes bibliographical references (page 79).