ABSTRACT
Reliability of the Eclox Enhanced Chemiluminescence
Assay for Rapid Field Testing of Drinking Water.
(December 2009)
The reliability of the Eclox enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) assay to detect sub-lethal toxicity was evaluated for its potential use as a rapid field testing procedure for contamination in drinking water. Water samples were collected weekly from six Texas Public Water Systems and analyzed with the Eclox ECL method for a twelve week period. Unspiked samples established a baseline to compare against samples spiked with cyanide, ethylene glycol, and Malathion at various sub-lethal concentrations. The reliability and reproducibility of the Eclox ECL method is robust, however, the method’s ability to positively detect sub-lethal concentrations for the three contaminants in treated drinking water was inconclusive. Various factors such as natural water chemistry, purification chemicals, and the byproducts of disinfection reaction may explain why the ECL process is unable to detect these sub-lethal concentrations. This research suggests that a more detailed chemical analysis of the variations of the natural water chemistry be carried out to assess the suitability of this technique to treated drinking water.
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