TABLE OF CONTENTS The analysis of trace pollutants in environmental matrices, such as wastewaters, groundwaters and surface waters, soils, sediments and solid wastes, and the ambient and atmospheric air, has grown into a major, fully pledged discipline of analytical science in recent years. This may be attributed to growing concern about pollution of the environment and numerous legislations and regulatory requirements that have been adopted to abate this problem. The first step in understanding the problem and subsequently controlling it rests on the identification and accurate measurements of toxic pollutants and their degradation products at trace levels. This involves measuring various organic substances, metal ions, inorganic anions, radionuclides, microorganisms, and certain physicochemical properties of environmental waters and solid wastes by various physical, chemical, and instrumental methods. A full discussion of the subject is beyond the scope of this text.
If water from a faucet is to be collected, allow the water to run into the sink for a few minutes before collecting the sample. If water is to be sampled from a river or a lake, collect the samples from an appropriate depth from the middle of the river or the lake or select the locations where the levels of pollutants need to be monitored. If the sample is taken in a single lot for analysis, it is called a grab sample. However, it may often be necessary to collect a more representative sample than a grab sample. In such cases, several samples are collected at different but...
