University of Queensland (UQ) is using AB SCIEX MS technology to monitor water quality following floods in Australia.
The floods in early 2011 had washed large amounts of debris into major water storage reservoirs. This pressured the water treatment infrastructure to its limits.
It also caused residents in certain areas to boil water as a protective measure against contamination. Continual monitoring of water quality is necessary long after the worst of the flooding.
Scientists at the University of Queensland are using AB SCIEX technologies, including the QTRAP 5500 system, to obtain the most accurate information possible about how concentrations of contaminants have changed since the floods.
The data is critical for public health officials to make decisions about the safety of the water and what action needs to be taken to facilitate the full extent of recovery from the intense flooding.
“Recovery is a long process, and it requires intricate, reliable and ongoing monitoring,” said Jochen Mueller, Professor of Environmental Monitoring at the University of Queensland.
“We are contributing to efforts to better understand what people, fish, animals and coral are potentially getting exposed to. LC/MS/MS technology from AB SCIEX is proving to be an ideal technology for analysing the environment.”
Beyond the floods, monitoring the Great Barrier Reef has additional consequences. UQ had discovered herbicides in unexpected places, including along the inshore reefs on the Great Barrier Reef, which is relatively far away from the agricultural areas where they are primarily applied.
In response, UQ developed a monitoring mechanism for herbicides and is using AB SCIEX’s LC/MS/MS technology to conduct this analysis.
