Water Analysis Applications

Clean water is an essential part of daily life, from catchment all the way through to wastewater treatment. Analysis throughout the whole cycle is crucial.

1) Water Catchment - Surface & Groundwater Testing
When testing water directly onsite a robust, water- and dust-tight instrument for accurate analysis is needed, such as the Spectroquant^® Move colorimeter. For fast and simple semi-quantitative results, a visual and test strip range is available.

2) Water Treatment - Process Control
Water treatment processes need constant monitoring using several techniques to aid compliance and improve safety e.g. pH, turbidity, or analysis of organics and inorganics using spectrophotometry, along with over 180 test kits.

3) Analytical & Microbiological Testing
Water needs to be assessed for the presence of potentially dangerous microbes, metals, organics and inorganics. Merck offers a range of solutions for microbiological detection, trace metal analysis, USEPA methods for spectrophotometry, and analysis of volatile and semi-volatile compounds.

4 & 5) Wastewater Generation & Treatment
Analysis of wastewater needs to be carried out both before and during treatment in order to ensure that the correct methods are being used, and that cleanliness meets the relevant regulatory guidelines. A range of solutions are available for sample preparation, including SPE and SPME, and for some analyses such as TOC, total nitrogen etc, it is necessary to perform a digestion using a thermoreactor or a crack set. Other important parameters which help safeguard our water supplies include surfactant testing and disinfection tests e.g. chlorine, chloride, peracetic acid etc. A full overview is available in the wastewater guide below.