APPLICATION OF TOTAL-REFLECTION XRF TO ELEMENTAL STUDIES OF DRINKING-WATER

The aim of this work was to study the water quality, especially metall ic pollution, at water treatment plants and inside buildings. The samp les were collected in two regions of Portugal and in one of these regi ons water collection was also made inside houses chosen according to t heir type of plumbing, in order to compare its influence on metal conc entrations in the drinking water. The analyses were carried out by tot al-reflection x-ray fluorescence without sample preconcentration. The detection limits were in the range 0.5-1.7 mu g I-1 for Cr, Mn, Fe, Co , Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Hg and Pb and 4.9-11 mu g I-1 for K, Ca, V, Cd, Sb and Ba. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.