Trace analysis of epichlorohydrin in water samples

According to a recent proposal of a new council directive of the Commission of the European Community concerning the quality of water intended for human consumption, the maximum concentration of epichlorohydrin allowed in potable water is intended to be limited to 0.5 mu g/L. To our knowledge no practical analytical technique for routine analysis purposes of aqueous samples is available at present. In this paper an analytical method is described using solid phase extraction (SPE) for the enrichment of epichlorohydrin from water samples with subsequent determination by gas-liquid chromatography with electron capture detection. Quantitative recovery was achieved. Using a sample volume of 100 mL a detection limit of 0.1 mu g/L can be reached. The method has successfully been applied to the analysis of epichlorohydrin in tap water, surface water and waste water.