Detecting bio contaminants in water samples

摘要

Demands on the Earth's resources are growing as population grows and clean resources become scarcer. One of the main resources needed is water - and unfortunately, we have not been great custodians of the global water supply. The ubiquitous face mask is even turning up on the seabed and we have only had Covid-19 for a year. One of the many pollutants found in water are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) which are classed along with many other pollutants as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs can be highly toxic to both humans and other animals and plant life. Consequently, researchers have developed methods to detect and clean contaminated water. Researchers from the University of Valencia have recently developed a new method to filter contaminated water and clean it up, and they used gas chromatography to detect the contaminants in the water supply.