Comprehensive Analysis of Highly Polar Contaminants in Drinking Water

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It is difficult to evaluate an environmental impact of chemical contamination in aquatic environments considering ~85,000 chemicals in commercial use today and even a larger group of currently unidentified natural components and disinfection by-products in water. Drinking water is an especially complex mixture of naturally occurring and anthropogenic chemicals. Over the past four decades, thousands of new drinking water contaminants have been identified and hazardous pollutants are regulated, but currently unidentified species may pose threats or be beneficial to the environment and human health. The major gap in our knowledge about the chemical contamination of drinking water is related to highly polar contaminants representing decomposition products of dissolved organic matter from water disinfection treatments or from microbial activities. The identification and investigation of these emerging pollutants in drinking water is the objective of our proposed NSERC-funded research program. For this purpose, we will use powerful analytical methods based on combining the technologies of Electrospray Ionization, Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Differential Ion Mobility (FAIMS) and Mass Spectrometry. These novel techniques, developed recently in our research, are capable of separating, detecting and identifying emerging (previously unknown) drinking water pollutants in a quick and convenient fashion without a need for costly sample preparation protocols. Using these unique analytical capabilities, we will be able to investigate a wide range of drinking water samples from ground and surface sources before and after various disinfection treatments (chlorination, ozonation, chloramination or UV radiation) to provide the comprehensive information on formation, occurrence, fate, and environmental impact of novel drinking water contaminants which could not be previously studied by conventional techniques in water analysis.