Water Quality Testing: Solutions from Catchment to Waste

Globally, over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the environment without being treated or reused. Clean water is an essential part of daily life, from catchment all the way through to wastewater treatment, therefore analysis throughout the whole cycle is crucial. Whether in lakes, pipes, or bottles, Merck can accompany you with their range of instruments, test kits and applications for your water and wastewater needs.

1) Water Catchment—Surface & groundwater testing

Fast testing solutions for measurement in the field. When testing water directly onsite, you need a robust, water- and dust-tight instrument for accurate analysis on the go, such as the Spectroquant ® Move colorimeter. For fast and simple semi-quantitative results, take a look at Merck’s visual & test strip range.

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 Merck’s range of over 180 test kits.

3) Analytical & Microbiological Testing

Water needs to be assessed for the presence of potentially dangerous microbes, metals, organics, inorganics. Merck have a range of solutions for E. coli & coliform detection, bioburden testing, USEPA methods for spectrophotometry, and analysis of volatile & semivolatile compounds. Regulatory compliance is critical, ensure the accuracy of Merck’s results with our pre- diluted reference materials and standard concentration solutions.

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 the 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 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.