Recently Developed Methods from the Office of Research and Development (ORD)
Drinking Water Methods
The Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) has historically been one of the most active EPA laboratories conducting drinking water methods research. Numerous analytical methods have been written and are available through the NTIS .
Below are some recently developed analytical methods for drinking water. EPA recommends that laboratories interested in using these methods for compliance monitoring check the Federal Register to determine if and when these methods are approved. The methods are presented in Adobe Acrobat ® PDF format.You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files. See EPA's PDF page for more information about getting and using the free Acrobat Reader
Questions or comments about these methods can be addressed to NERL and Faxed to 513-569-7757 or send an E-mail to: DWmethods.help@epa.gov. Additional assistance can be found by contacting the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426-4791, or hotline-sdwa@epa.gov.
- EPA Method 200.5 - Determination of Trace Elements in Drinking Water by Axially Viewed Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectrometery. (PDF, 36 pp., 468 KB)
- EPA Method 321.8 - Determination of Bromate in Drinking Waters by Ion Chromatography Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry. (PDF, 25 pp., 171 KB)
- EPA Method 332.0 - Determination of Perchlorate in Drinking Water by Ion Chromatography with Suppressed Conductivity and Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry. (PDF, 48 pp., 4032 KB)
- EPA Method 415.3 Rev 1.1 - Determination of Total Organic Carbon and Specific UV Absorbance at 254 nm in Source Water and Drinking Water. Revision 1.1, issued in February 2005, reflects a minor change in Section 8.2. (PDF, 56 pp., 1826 KB)
- EPA Method 521 - Determination of Nitrosamines in Drinking Water by Solid Phase Extraction and Capillary Column Gas Chromatography with Large Volume Injection and Chemical Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS). (PDF, 47 pp., 459 KB)
- EPA Method 522 - Determination of 1,4-Dioxane in Drinking Water by Solid Extraction (SPE) and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) Selected Ion Monitoring. (PDF, 41 pp, 302KB)
- EPA Method 528 - Determination of Phenols in Drinking Water by Solid Phase Extraction and Capillary Column Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). (PDF, 46 pp., 118 KB)
- EPA Method 529 - Determination of Explosives and Related Compounds in Drinking Water by Solid Phase Extraction and Capillary Column Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). (PDF, 60 pp., 274 KB)
- EPA Method 535 Rev. 1.1 - Measurement of Chloroacetanilide and Other Acetamide Herbicide Degradates in Drinking Water by Solid Phase Extraction and Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Revision 1.1, issued in April 2005, reflects a minor change in Section 7.2 and Section 17, Table 4. (PDF, 61 pp., 633 KB)
- EPA Method 537 - Determination of Selected Perfluorinated Alkyl Acids in Drinking Water by Solid Phase Extraction and Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). (PDF, 50 pp, 299KB)
- EPA Method 549.2 - Determination of Diquat and Paraquat in Drinking Water by Liquid-Solid Extraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Ultraviolet Detection. (PDF, 21 pp., 461 KB)
- EPA Method 556 (jointly developed with OGWDW) - Determination of Carbonyl Compounds in Drinking Water by Pentafluorobenzylhydroxylamine Derivatization and Capillary Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detection. (PDF, 37 pp., 139 KB)
to the Analytical Methods Main Page at the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
Marine Water Methods
The online version of METHODS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES IN MARINE AND ESTUARINE ENVIRONMENTAL MATRICES, 2nd Edition (EPA publication EPA/600/R-97/072) is presented in Adobe Acrobat ® PDF format. You may retrieve the entire Manual as a single file (1.6MB) or as individual methods. Inquiries concerning the Manual should be directed to DWmethods.help@epa.gov.
- Retrieve Entire Manual - (PDF, 199 pp., 1.6 MB) Note: There has been an errata sheet prepared for Method 445.0. To retrieve the errata sheet, see below.
- Retrieve Introduction and Table of Contents and individual Methods (below). (PDF, 8 pp., 21 KB)
- EPA Method 200.10 - Determination of Trace Elements in Marine Waters by On-line Chelation Preconcentration and Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry. (PDF, 15 pp., 107 KB)
- EPA Method 200.12 - Determination of Trace Elements in Marine Waters by Stabilized Temperature Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption. (PDF, 21 pp., 220 KB)
- EPA Method 200.13 - Determination of Trace Elements in Marine Water by Off-Line Chelation Preconcentration with Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption. (PDF, 19 pp., 142 KB)
- EPA Method 349.0 - Determination of Ammonia in Estuarine and Coastal Waters by Gas Segmented Continuous Flow Colorimetric Analysis. (PDF, 16 pp., 80 KB)
- EPA Method 353.4 - Determination of Nitrate and Nitrite in Estuarine and Coastal Waters by Gas Segmented Continuous Flow Colorimetric Analysis. (PDF, 20 pp., 94 KB)
- EPA Method 365.5 - Determination of Orthophosphate in Estuarine and Coastal Waters by Automated Colorimetric Analysis. (PDF, 9 pp., 75 KB)
- EPA Method 366.0 - Determination of Dissolved Silicate in Estuarine and Coastal Waters by Gas Segmented Continuous Flow Colorimetric Analysis. (PDF, 13 pp., 88 KB)
- EPA Method 440.0 - Determination of Carbon and Nitrogen in Sediments and Particulates of Estuarine/Coastal Waters Using Elemental Analysis. (PDF, 10 pp., 58 KB)
- EPA Method 445.0 - In Vitro Determination of Chlorophyll a and Pheophytin a in Marine and Freshwater Phytoplankton by Fluorescence. (PDF, 22 pp., 99 KB) Please Note: an errata sheet has been prepared for Method 445.0. Click here to retrieve the Method 445.0 Errata Sheet (PDF, 1 pp., 13 KB)
- EPA Method 446.0 - In Vitro Determination of Chlorophylls a, b, c1+c2 and Pheopigments in Marine and Freshwater Algae by Visible Spectrophotometry. (PDF, 26 pp., 172 KB)
- EPA Method 447.0 - Determination of Chlorophylls a and b and Identification of Other Pigments of Interest in Marine and Freshwater Algae Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Visible Wavelength Detection. (PDF, 20 pp., 86 KB)