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METHOD 521: DETERMINATION OF NITROSAMINES IN DRINKING WATER BY SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION AND CAPILLARY COLUMN GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH LARGE VOLUME INJECTION AND CHEMICAL IONIZATION TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS/MS)
Citation:
Munch, J W. METHOD 521: DETERMINATION OF NITROSAMINES IN DRINKING WATER BY SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION AND CAPILLARY COLUMN GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH LARGE VOLUME INJECTION AND CHEMICAL IONIZATION TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRY (MS/MS). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To develop an analytical method suitable for monitoring NDMA at ng/L concentrations in drinking water by the end of FY05. Ideally, the method should be simple and rugged enough to be applicable to compliance monitoring in the event that NDMA becomes a regulated contaminant under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). At a minimum the method must be suitable for gathering nationwide occurrence data that can be used in the regulatory decision making process.
Description:
NDMA is an emerging drinking water contaminant that is of interest to EPA and the environmental community. Its presence in drinking water is a potential health concern, because the EPA's IRIS data base lists the concentration of NDMA required to result in a one in one million lifetime cancer risk to be only 0.7 ng/L. NDMA is produced by industrial sources, such as the manufacture of rocket fuel, but has also been identified as a potential disinfection by-product. The focus of NERL's research was to develop an improved analytical method for the analysis of NDMA in drinking water that was sensitive, specific and cost-effective. Existing methods for measuring NDMA in water are expensive and labor intensive, and some require the use of very large amounts of toxic solvents such as methylene chloride. In addition, the sensitivity of some existing methods is insufficient for conducting low-level monitoring. The method was developed for inclusion in EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, scheduled for proposal in 2005, in order for the EPA Office of Water to collect nationwide occurrence data on nitrosamines in drinking water and make a regulatory determination. If NDMA or other nitrosamines become regulated drinking water contaminants in the future, the method could also be used for compliance monitoring.
Research Approach