Suomen ympäristökeskus

 

This document specifies a method for the determination of total organic carbon (TOC) in water samples containing suspended solids (SS) in the range of 10 mg/l to 500 mg/l. The method includes the determination of particulate organic carbon using combined ultrasonic and alkaline extraction (CUAL) pretreatment and quantification by the difference between total carbon (TC) and total inorganic carbon (TIC). Typical matrices include wastewater, stormwater, leachates, and surface water.

 

This document specifies conditions for the determination of 90Sr and 89Sr activity concentration in samples of environmental water using liquid scintillation counting (LSC) or proportional counting (PC). The method is applicable to test samples of drinking water, rainwater, surface and ground water, marine water, as well as cooling water, industrial water, domestic, and industrial wastewater after proper sampling and handling, and test sample preparation. Filtration of the test sample and a chemical separation are required to separate and purify strontium from a test portion of the sample. The detection limit depends on the sample volume, the instrument used, the sample count time, the background count rate, the detection efficiency and the chemical yield. The method described in this document, using currently available LSC counters, has a detection limit of approximately 10 mBq l-1 and 2 mBq l-1 for 89Sr and 90Sr, respectively, which is lower than the WHO criteria for safe consumption of drinking water (100 Bq·l-1 for 89Sr and 10 Bq·l-1 for 90Sr)[3]. These values can be achieved with a counting time of 1 000 min for a sample volume of 2 l. The methods described in this document are applicable in the event of an emergency situation. When fallout occurs following a nuclear accident, the contribution of 89Sr to the total amount of radioactive strontium is not negligible. This document provides test methods to determine the activity concentration of 90Sr in presence of 89Sr. The analysis of 90Sr and 89Sr adsorbed to suspended matter is not covered by this method. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure the validity of this test method selected for the water samples tested.

 

This document specifies the sampling of urban and industrial waste water, i.e. the design of sampling programmes and techniques for the collection of samples. This document covers waste water in all its forms, i.e. industrial waste water, radioactive waste water, cooling water, raw and treated urban waste water. This document deals with various sampling techniques used and the rules to be applied to ensure the samples are representative. This document does not cover sampling of accidental spillages, although the methods described in certain cases can also be applicable to spillages. This document is not applicable to sampling of microplastics in waste waters. Appropriate guidance is given in ISO 5667-27[1].

 

This document specifies a method for the gravimetric determination of soil water content as a volume fraction. The method is applicable to all types of non-swelling or non-shrinking soils where coring sleeves can be used for sampling. It is not applicable to soils where stones, tough roots or other factors prevent collection of soil cores. It is used as a reference method (e.g. the calibration of indirect methods for determination of water content). NOTE The determination of water content as a mass fraction is described in ISO 11465.

 

This document specifies a test method for the determination of gross beta activity concentration in non-saline waters. The method covers non-volatile radionuclides with maximum beta energies of approximately 0,3 MeV or higher. Measurement of low energy beta emitters (e.g. 3H, 228Ra, 210Pb, 14C, 35S and 241Pu) and some gaseous or volatile radionuclides (e.g. radon and radioiodine) might not be included in the gross beta quantification using the test method described in this document. This test method is applicable to the analysis of raw and drinking waters. The range of application depends on the amount of total soluble salts in the water and on the performance characteristics (background count rate and counting efficiency) of the counter used. It is the laboratory's responsibility to ensure the suitability of this method for the water samples tested.

 

 

This document provides the key principles for the analysis of microplastics in drinking water and water with low content of natural suspended solids using thermo-analytical methods. This document covers the determination of polymer types and the mass of microplastics in the sample. This document is not applicable for the determination of particle size, particle shape and particle numbers. This document is applicable for the detection of microplastics in drinking water and waters with low content of natural total suspended solids (TSS)11ISO 6107 or ISO 5667-27 (1 mg/l to 100 mg/l) or lower if they interfere with determination.. The described detection procedures are suitable for various types of samples. NOTE In cases where this document is used for the detection of microplastics in water with TSS contents higher than those defined here, laboratories commonly include additional quality assessment and control measures (including preparation) to evaluate whether the detection methods perform adequately for increased amounts of TSS. This document describes the detection of different types of polymers, [the most used ones in the industry and the most abundant ones in the environment being polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS), which are analysed by thermo-analytical methods]. Depending on the used thermo-analytic methods, additional further polymer can be detected, such as polyvinylchloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC), poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) polyamides (PA), polyurethanes (PU), as well as signals from PS-co-polymers22 PS-co-polymers are polymers of styrene, acrylonitrile and butadiene (such as ABS). Signals from PS-co-polymers can be derivate from tire wear (including SBR) and can be detect with the methods as well, but elastomers are outside the scope of this document..

 

This document sets out key principles for the investigation of microplastics using thermo-analytical methods in water with low content of natural suspended solids. This document gives requirements for the standardisation of methods towards harmonized procedures for determination of microplastics contents.

 

This document provides standard procedures for the collection, handling and storage of soil for subsequent biological testing under aerobic conditions in the laboratory. It applies to the collection, handling and storage for assessing the effects of soil on microorganisms, invertebrates (e.g. survival, reproduction, growth, behaviour) and plants (e.g. development, growth). This document is not applicable to the handling of soil where anaerobic conditions need to be maintained throughout. This document describes how to minimize the effects of differences in temperature, water content, and availability of oxygen on aerobic processes as well as the fractionation of soil particles to facilitate reproducible laboratory determinations.[1][2] This document is mainly applicable to temperate soils. Soils collected from extreme climates (e.g. permafrost, tropical soils) can require special handling. NOTE This document does not provide standard procedures on the collection, handling and storage of soil organisms when assessing the structure and function of soil organism communities in the field. Such standard procedures are provided in the ISO 23611 series.

 

This document describes a set of physiological parameters allowing the measurement of sublethal effects in higher plants exposed to soil pollutants and other stressors (e.g. drought, nutrient availability, heat stress). It is applicable to soils of unknown quality (e.g. from contaminated sites, amended soils or soils after remediation), either in situ or following laboratory exposure assays. This document specifies the methods for analysing variations in physiological responses and oxidative damage that can be indicative of stress symptoms in the leaves of higher plants, either monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous species.

 

This document describes a set of biochemical parameters allowing the measurement of sublethal effects in higher plants exposed to soil pollutants and other stressors (e.g. drought, nutrient availability, heat stress). This document is applicable to soils of unknown quality (e.g. from contaminated sites, amended soils or soils after remediation), following laboratory exposure assays. This document specifies methods for measuring antioxidant defence enzyme activities that indicate stress symptoms in the leaves of lettuce and higher plants, either monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous species.

 

This document specifies a method for the determination of gross alpha and gross beta activity concentration for alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides using liquid scintillation counting (LSC). The method is applicable to all types of waters with a dry residue of less than 5 g/l and when no correction for colour quenching is necessary. Gross alpha and gross beta activity measurement is not intended to give an absolute determination of the activity concentration of all alpha- and beta-emitting radionuclides in a test sample, but is a screening analysis to ensure particular reference levels of specific alpha and beta emitters have not been exceeded. This type of determination is also known as gross alpha and beta index. Gross alpha and beta analysis is not expected to be as accurate nor as precise as specific radionuclide analysis after radiochemical separations. The method covers non-volatile radionuclides below 80 °C, since some gaseous or volatile radionuclides (e.g. radon and radioiodine) can be lost during the source preparation. The method is applicable to test samples of drinking water, rain water, surface and ground water as well as cooling water, industrial water, domestic and industrial waste water after proper sampling and test sample preparation (filtration when necessary and taking into account the amount of dissolved material in the water). The method described in this document is applicable in the event of an emergency situation, because the results can be obtained in less than 4 h by directly measuring water test samples without any treatment. It is the laboratory's responsibility to ensure the suitability of this test method for the water samples tested.

 

This European Standard specifies a method for the determination of mercury in aqua regia or nitric acid digests of sludge, treated biowaste and soil, obtained according to EN ISO 54321 or EN 13173 using cold- vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS). The lower working range limit is at least 0,003 mg/kg (dry matter basis) depending on digestion parameters.

 

This European Standard specifies a method for the determination of mercury in digests of soil, treated biowaste and waste, obtained according to EN ISO 54321 (aqua regia digestion) or EN 16173 (nitric acid digestion) or EN 13656 (digestion with a hydrochloric, nitric and tetrafluoroboric or hydrofluoric acid mixture) using cold-vapour atomic absorption spectrometry (CV-AAS). The lower working range limit is at least 0,03 mg/kg (drymatter basis) depending on digestion parameters.

 

This document specifies the general requirements for sampling, preservation, handling, transport and storage of all water samples for physicochemical, chemical, hydrobiological and microbiological analyses and determination of radiochemical analytes and activities. Guidance on the validation of storage times of water samples is provided in ISO/TS 5667-25. This document is not applicable to water samples intended for ecotoxicological assays, biological assays (which is specified in ISO 5667-16), passive sampling (which is specified in ISO 5667-23) and microplastics (which is specified in ISO 5667-27). This document is particularly appropriate when samples cannot be analysed on site and have to be transported to a laboratory for analysis.

 

This document describes a gas chromatographic method for determination of 5 chlorophenols (2-chlorophenol; 2,4-dichlorophenol; 2,4,6-trichlorophenol; 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol; pentachlorophenol) in water samples. This method uses a liquid/solid extraction method using immersive solid phase extraction equipment. After sampling, retained organic compounds are released by thermal desorption (TD) and automatically transferred to a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) system for analysis. NOTE 1 Other chlorophenols not specified in the scope can also be analysed if the performance specifications of this method can be met and the user validates the changes of the procedure accordingly. NOTE 2 The method detection limits (MDLs) of each chlorophenol measured by this method are shown in Annex B. This method is applicable to the determination of chlorophenols in surface water, ground water and drinking water. The applicability of the method to other types of water can be validated by the user separately for each individual case.

 

This document specifies the general requirements for sampling, preservation, handling, transport and storage of all water samples for physicochemical, chemical, hydrobiological and microbiological analyses and determination of radiochemical analytes and activities. Guidance on the validation of storage times of water samples is provided in ISO/TS 5667-25 [2]. This document is not applicable to water samples intended for ecotoxicological assays, biological assays (which is specified in ISO 5667-16 [4]), passive sampling (which is specified in ISO 5667-23 [5]) and microplastics (which is specified in ISO 5667-27 [6]). This document is particularly appropriate when samples cannot be analysed on site and have to be transported to a laboratory for analysis.

 

This document defines terms used in the field of soil quality.