REVIEW OF DETERMINANDS SUITABLE FOR IMMUNOASSAY
Report No FR0349

K Wilson and P Gale

Mar 1993

SUMMARY

I BENEFITS

The availability of validated immunoassay (IA) methods for analysing pollutants of concern to the water industry should lead to substantial savings in monitoring costs.

II OBJECTIVES

To review determinands which may be suitable for IA method development and to review currently available commercial kits and other IA methods reported in the literature.

III REASONS

IA methods can provide cheap, quick and simple methods for the analysis of substances in water and related materials. The availability of such methods needs to be reviewed and determinands that would benefit from such methods identified.

IV CONCLUSIONS

A review of commercially available IA kits for pesticides revealed that some are, in principle, capable of monitoring several pesticides of interest to the water utilities. However, none has been thoroughly tested to determine whether they are capable of meeting water industry requirements. Reports in the literature suggest that it should be possible to develop an IA method for a wide range of pesticides.

Commercial IA kits are also available for the determination of viruses and bacteria. However, these have been developed for clinical applications rather than for analysis of water samples and such kits, therefore, do not fully meet water industry needs.

A review of determinands of interest to the water utilities has shown that, in addition to pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), algal toxins and possibly viruses and bacteria, could be considered suitable for detection by IA methods. However, prior to the application of IA, some form of concentration stage is likely to be needed in the case of bacteria and viruses.

V RECOMMENDATIONS

Several IA kits are available for the analysis of pesticides in water and it would be worthwhile testing these in relation to water utility requirements. Other determinands have been identified as being potentially suitable for IA method development (e.g. PAH, viruses) and these should be considered for further development.

Copies of the Report are available from FWR, price £15.00 less 20% to FWR Members