AWWA WQTC71559

Microconstituents such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are often indicators of the potential influence of wastewater on a municipal system. Additionally, there is growing evidence that trace levels of inorganic disinfection byproducts (e.g. Bromate and Chlorate) may occur in distribution systems as a result of changes in disinfection processes. To date, there has been no large scale study of their occurrence due to the complexity and cost of the analytical methods. MWH developed innovative analytical methods for these groups of compounds that are amenable to ppt sensitivities using sample volumes of 40 ml or less for each of these constituents. The method for PPCPs uses positive and negative mode electrospray detection on an API-5000 LC-MS-MS system and includes analysis of nearly 80 compounds with reporting limits ranging from 1 to 50 ng/L. The method for PFCs (PFOA/PFOS) has sensitivities of <5 ng/L for each, well below the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) health advisory levels. For bromate and chlorate, measurements were made both with conventional ion chromatography (IC) and also by LC-MS-MS via an adaptation of the method of Snyder et al (2005) and USEPA 331. These methods were applied to examine municipal distribution system samples along with sites undergoing further water treatment processes from across the United States as a result of other ongoing testing. Includes 8 references.