Oxyhalide Testing Capability
Bottled water companies and some drinking water utilities have begun using ozone, chlorine dioxide and chloramines instead of chlorine in their main disinfection process. These disinfectants help in decreasing the levels of trihalomethanes that are formed but they can also increase levels of a group of potentially toxicological compounds called oxyhalides.
Oxyhalides such as bromate, chlorite and chlorate have been classified as probable human carcinogens and should be tested wherever there is the potential for them to be formed.
- Bromate is formed when source waters containing bromide are ozonated
- Chlorite is formed when chlorine dioxide is used
- Chlorate is formed when chlorine, chlorine dioxide, hypochlorous acid or chloramine are used
Eurofins-ELS has reacted to the increased test requirements and has installed a new Ion Chromatography (IC) system solely for the testing of these compounds. This new instrument joins an existing set of IC instruments and significantly increases our capability to test for oxyhalides. With this new instrument we can meet the required detection limits for both the NZ Drinking Water Standards as well as the MPI RLP programme. We can also offer fast turnaround of results.
|
Oxyhalide |
Method Reporting Limit |
NZ Drinking Water Limit |
RLP Limit |
|
Bromate |
<0.005 g/m3 |
0.01 g/m3 |
0.025 g/m3 |
|
Chlorite |
<0.005 g/m3 |
0.8 g/m3 |
Uses the NZ Drinking Water Limit |
|
Chlorate |
<0.005 g/m3 |
0.8 g/m3 |
Drinking water samples should be sent to us with our own preserved bottles as they contain a preservative called ethylenediamine (EDA). Bottled water samples should be sent to us in the finished bottles.
