Electrochemical determination of pollutants in sea water: Toxic substances and nutrients

Abstract

Coastal marine waters have a wide variety of important human uses and therefore must be protected against contamination. The main sources of their pollution (by toxic substances and nutrients) are the discharge of municipal sewage and runoff from agricultural areas. Excessive nutrient enrichment in the form of inorganic nitrogen (NH 4 +, NO 2 −, NO 3 −) may be directly estimated by the use of ion selective electrodes (ISE), whereas the inorganic phosphorus can only be estimated indirectly. The total content of N, P and heavy metals may be estimated after decomposition of organic substances, using the ISE method in the case of P and N determination and the differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) method for determining the heavy metals.