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Groundwater Arsenic Detector

Water supplies contaminated with arsenic pose a severe health risk to world-wide populations. The US EPA has recently lowered the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic from 50 ppb to 10 ppb to address this risk. Many states either already have passed or are soon to pass even stricter regulations. Periodic checks of arsenic concentration in water samples can be made using a number of colorimetric methods, but some reports suggest that these methods can be in error by as much as ± 10 ppb when performed by unskilled personnel. In addition, this method does not lend itself to automated control systems. At the other end of the spectrum, water samples can be collected and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. This analytical method is very precise (a detection limit of 0.03 mg/L), but it uses time-consuming, expensive, and maintenance-intensive mass spectrometers. Mainstream is working on developing an inexpensive, near real-time, sensor-based field arsenic detector that would circumvent the shortcomings associated with conventional laboratory arsenic analysis methods. Mainstream's detector will be capable of measuring the concentration of total arsenic in a water sample with a detection limit of approximately 1 ppb.