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MWH lab develops contaminant detector for recycled waterMunicipalities are currently addressing new evidence of contamination in water supplies, including bacteria often found in sewage. The method detects rare earth elements that are a proven and reliable indicator of sewage contamination, offering a new cost-effective tool that will assist water treatment plants to identify contamination. Dr Andrew Eaton, technical director for MWH Laboratories, said "Plants can add an extra level of certainty to their work, using the same samples that they are already testing and with minimal added expense." MWH Laboratories now can analyze at ultra-low levels for gadolinium (Gd), a rare earth element typically injected into patients undergoing MRI scans to improve the imaging quality of the medical test. Once it passes through the body, gadolinium enters sewer systems. In samples of reclaimed water, a high level of gadolinium relative to other earth elements is one indicator of wastewater contamination. MWH Laboratories experts can now identify a "gadolinium anomaly," or excess levels of Gd, at parts per trillion (ppt) levels to determine the presence of wastewater despite extremely low concentrations or significant dilution. The new method has been used by the US Geological Survey and researchers at the University of Queensland and will be used by MWH Labs for a major study of reclaimed water in Florida set to begin this spring, sponsored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. MWH Laboratories uses a state-of-the-art Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (Perkin Elmer 9000 ICPMS DRC2) equipped with special sample handling capabilities, to measure the entire suite of rare earth elements at levels as low as 1 ppt and then uses a special algorithm to normalize the data and identify the presence of the Gd anomaly. Posted on 02 February 2010
Source: Desalination & Water Reuse
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Australia | Florida | Monitoring | Recycling | Wastewater Reuse | Water Reuse | Water Treatment Click on a keyword to see more stories on that topic Share this
 Click here to leave a commentCommentsScientific articles - Gd
By Wolfgang Gernjak Published by the AWMC @ The University of Queensland: Lawrence et al. (2009) Detection of anthropogenic gadolinium in treated wastewater in South East Queensland, Australia. Water Research 43 (14), pp. 3534-3540. Further articles in press. Contact w.gernjak@uq.edu.au for more information. © Faversham House Group Ltd 2010.
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