Mass Spectrometry

Biography

Organic micropollutants are continuously introduced into the environment, being not completely removed during wastewater treatment and found at trace concentrations (ng/L─µg/L) in receiving water bodies, which might be sources for drinking water (DW) supply, bringing possible consequences for public health [1]. In the particular case of the European Union (EU), some regulations on water pollution have been published in the last years, namely Directive 39/2013/EU [2] identifying 45 priority substances (PSs) to meet the protection of the aquatic compartments and the human health. More recently, a Watch List of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) for EU monitoring in surface water bodies was defined in the Decision 2015/495/EU [3]. An eco-friendly analytical method based on offline solid phase extraction followed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (SPE-UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of 21 pollutants in DW: 7 pesticides, 1 industrial compound, 12 pharmaceuticals and 1 metabolite, some of them defined as PSs in the Directive 2013/39/EU or CECs included in the recent Watch List of Decision 2015/495/EU. A widespread occurrence was verified at ng/L levels in DW samples from different sources (tap, wells and fountains) and locations of North of Portugal, but the estimated hazard quotients suggested no adverse effects to humans.

Abstract

Abstract : Eco-friendly UHPLC-MS/MS method for analysis of multi-class micropollutants in drinking water