| Water is one of the world's most important resources and is a necessity for life. Contamination of natural water resources is a growing problem, leading to increased health problems and lack of quality drinking water in many areas of the world. Water sampling and sample preparation are an important component of the whole analysis procedure. Analysis is typically completed in the laboratory, but there is an increasing amount of interest in on-site analysis. Several techniques can be used for the extraction of analytes from water samples, and they are presented here. The focus of this thesis is solid phase microextraction (SPME) and a similar technique, thin-film extraction, coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Two different types of on-site analysis are examined: passive sampling and spot sampling. The passive samplers were developed from polydimethylsiloxane thin-films and were used to measure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water over long periods of time (30 days). Spot sampling was completed with the aid of a newly developed hand-held stirrer - the design is based on the incorporation of a portable cordless drill for the agitation of the water samples during sampling. PAHs were examined in river water samples with the use of external calibration curves. Occasionally, laboratory analysis is more practical than onsite analysis, especially for high throughput analysis of water samples, as demonstrated by the results from this research. Analysis and optimization of new methods for the determination of disinfection byproducts in drinking water samples was successfully completed in the laboratory. In summary, this project successfully evaluated a range of fast, simple and inexpensive sampling and sample preparation techniques for the analysis of various constituents in water samples. |
