THE IMPORTANCE OF ELEMENT SPECIATION IN WATER ANALYSIS - A PLEA FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS

Water analysis is dominated by parameters given in laws and recommenda tions concerning water quality. Speciation has been broadly neglected. This might be due to the difficulties in defining speciation and in d etermining species at low concentrations. This paper addresses the phy sical, chemical and biological approaches to speciation and gives exam ples for methods which are suited for species determination in aquatic systems. Metals and non-metallic elements are covered as well. It is obvious that speciation is a key for understanding the function of aqu atic ecosystems and their technical utilization.