Water
Standard Methods for the Analysis of Water Pollutants
A programme for chemists and technicians in water laboratories on the standard methods for analysing pollutants in drinking water and wastewater according to Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods, together with sample preservation and analytical quality control.
Overview
About the programme
Duration
4 days
Training hours
12 hours
Delivery
Training room · Virtual · Hands-on work in the organisation’s laboratory
Language
Arabic or English
Objectives
Training outcomes
- Select the appropriate standard method for each pollutant and the concentration level required.
- Apply the requirements for sample preservation, containers and holding times before analysis.
- Understand the principles of the titrimetric, spectrophotometric, chromatographic and metals methods used in water laboratories.
- Apply analytical quality control: calibration curves, blanks, spikes and duplicates, and control charts.
- Calculate detection and quantification limits and verify method performance.
Content
What the programme covers
Day 1: the standard reference and the sample
- The structure and sections of Standard Methods, and how it relates to EPA methods and the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025.
- Sample collection and preservation (Section 1060): containers, preservatives, cooling and holding times for each group of parameters.
- Physical and aggregate parameters: turbidity (2130), alkalinity (2320), hardness (2340), conductivity (2510) and solids (2540).
Day 2: ions and aggregate organic parameters
- Inorganic non-metallic constituents (Section 4500): pH, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, nitrate and nitrite, ammonia, phosphate and residual chlorine, and ion chromatography.
- Aggregate organic parameters: biochemical oxygen demand (5210), chemical oxygen demand (5220), total organic carbon (5310), and oil and grease (5520).
Day 3: metals, organic pollutants and microbiological tests
- Metals analysis: sample digestion, flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption (3111 and 3113), and inductively coupled plasma ICP-OES and ICP-MS (3120 and 3125).
- Organic pollutants: volatile organic compounds, pesticides and hydrocarbons by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry according to EPA methods.
- Microbiological tests: total coliforms and Escherichia coli by multiple tube (9221), membrane filtration (9222) and enzyme substrate (9223) methods.
Day 4: quality control and validity of results
- Quality control (Sections 1020 and 1030): calibration, blanks, spikes, duplicates, reference materials and control charts.
- Detection and quantification limits, method verification, estimating uncertainty, and checking the ion balance of results.
- An exercise on a real set of results and a review of a test report, followed by the assessment.
Who it is for
Target audience
Chemists and technicians in drinking water, wastewater and environmental laboratories, and the quality officers of these laboratories.
Method
Delivery method
Lectures that explain each method step by step with its sources of error, and calculation exercises on calibration and quality control. The programme can be delivered online; when delivered in person, hands-on practice can be added in the organisation’s laboratory on its own instruments. In Arabic or English.
Questions
FAQ
Does the programme include hands-on work on instruments?
It can, when delivered in person in the organisation’s laboratory on its own instruments, once the organisation shares its list of instruments and approved methods so the exercises can be built on them.
What level is required of participants?
The programme is for staff who work in a water laboratory and know the basics of analytical chemistry. New technicians can start with Fundamentals of Environmental Analysis and Sampling.
Can it be delivered remotely?
Yes. It can be delivered in a live virtual classroom, and the calculation and quality control exercises remain the same.
A programme tailored to your organisation
The duration and topics of the programme are adjusted to the organisation's needs, and it is delivered at its site, in a training hall arranged by the Center, or virtually.