PHTHALATES IN SURFACE-WATER - A METHOD FOR ROUTINE TRACE-LEVEL ANALYSIS

A routine method for the determination of phthalates in water is presented. It is suitable for all kinds of water like surface water, waste water, landfill leachate, rain water and ground water. Unfiltered water samples including all suspended particulate matter are extracted by solid-phase extraction in an all-glass apparatus using RPC-18. The extracts are measured by GC/MSD in the SIM mode. Due to an easy but efficient decontamination technique, method blanks could be decreased below 0.02 mu g/1 for all phthalates. The detection limits are 0.01 to 0.02 mu g/l, the determination limits are 0.02 to 0.05 mu g/l. Recovery for all phthalates is about 98% (+/-5%). Phthalates were measured in about 400 samples of water of the river Rhine and its main affluents in Northrhine-Westfalia.