Abstract
A field investigation was conducted at all water treatment plants throughout 11 states and Federal Territory in Peninsular Malaysia. The sampling points in this study include treatment plant operation, service reservoir outlet and auxiliary outlet point at the water pipelines. Analysis was performed by solid phase micro-extraction technique with a 100 μm polydimethylsiloxane fibre using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection to analyse 54 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of different chemical families in drinking water. The concentration of VOCs ranged from undetectable to 230.2 μg/l. Among all of the VOCs species, chloroform has the highest concentration and was detected in all drinking water samples. Average concentrations of total trihalomethanes (THMs) were almost similar among all states which were in the range of 28.4--33.0 μg/l. Apart from THMs, other abundant compounds detected were cis and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, 1,2-dibromoethane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, chlorobenzene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene and 1,2-dichloro - benzene. Principal component analysis (PCA) with the aid of varimax rotation, and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) method were used to statistically verify the correlation between VOCs and the source of pollution. The multivariate analysis pointed out that the maintenance of auxiliary pipelines in the distribution systems is vital as it can become significant point source pollution to Malaysian drinking water.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aggazzotti, G., & Predieri, G. (1986). Survey of volatile halogenated organics (VHO) in Italy: Levels of VHO in drinking waters, surface waters and swimming pools. Water Research, 20(8), 959–963.
Alexander, M. (1981). Biodegradation of chemicals of environmental concern. Science, 211, 132–138.
Amaral, O.C., Otero, R., Grimalt, J.O., & Albaiges, J. (1996). Volatile and semi-volatile organochlorine compounds in tap and riverine waters in the area of influence of a chlorinated organic solvent factory. Water Research, 30(8), 1876–1884.
AOAC. (1993). AOAC peer verified methods program, manual on policies and procedures. Arlington, VA.
Cunningham, W.P., & Saigo, B.W. (1999). Environmental science: A global concern. Boston: McGraw Hill International Book Company.
Fharnham, I.M., Singh, A.K., Stetzenbach, K.J., & Lohannesson, K.H. (2002). Treatment of non-detects in multivariate analysis of groundwater geochemistry data. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 60, 265–281.
Golfinopoulos, S.K., Kostopoulou, M.N., & Lekkas, T.D. (1998). Volatile halogenated organics in the water supply system in Athens, Greece. Water Research, 23(6), 1811–1818.
Grob, K., & Grob, G. (1974) Organic substances in potable water and in its precursor. Part II. Applications in the area of Zurich. Journal of Chromatography A, 90, 303–313.
Kuo, H.W., Chiang, T.F., Lo, I.I., Lai, J.S., Chan, C.C., & Wang, J.D. (1997). VOC concentration in Taiwan's household drinking water. Science ot the Total Environment, 208, 41–47.
Malaysia. (2001). Malaysia environmental quality report 2001. KL, Malaysia: Ministry of Sciences, Technology and the Environment.
Malinowski, E.R. (1991). Factor analysis in chemistry. New York, USA: Wiley-Interscience Publication.
Md. Pauzi, A., Yew, C.H., & Mohamad Salleh, R. (2003). Formation, modelling and validation of trihalomethanes (THM) in Malaysian drinking water: a case study in the districts of Tampin, Negeri Sembilan and Sabak Bernam, Selangor, Malaysia. Water Research, 37, 4637–4644.
Nikolaou, A.D., Golfinopoulos, S.K., Kostopoulou, M.N., Kolokythas, G.A., & Lekkas, T.D. (2002). Determination of volatile organic compounds in surface and treated waste water in Greece. Water Research, 36, 2883–2890.
Pauzi, A., Yew, C.H, Mohamad Salleh, R., & Rahmah, A. (2002). Validation of solid phase microextraction technique for analysis of Trihalomethanes (THMs) in Malaysian drinking water. Malaysian Journal of Chemistry, 4, 27–34.
Sacks, R. & Akard, M. (1994). High-speed GC analysis of VOCs: Tuneable selectivity and column selection. Environment Science Technology, 28, 428A–433A.
Shiau-Chian, S. (2005). Occurrence and removal of volatile organic compounds relative to water treatement plants in Malaysia. Ph.D Thesis. Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Shiau-Chian, S., & Md Pauzi, A. (2005). Applicability of direct extraction of solid phase micro-extraction to the determination of 54 volatile organic compounds in drinking water. Malaysian Journal of Chemistry, 7, 19–25.
Sukiman, S., & Pauzi, A. (1993). Chemical quality of Malaysian drinking water sources. In Jangi, M.S. (Eds.). Drinking water quality: Microbiological and public health aspects (pp. 63–69). Bangi Selanger: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Tabachnick, B.G., & Fidell, L.S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics. Needham Heights, USA: Allyn & Bacon, Inc.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Soh, SC., Abdullah, M.P. Determination of volatile organic compounds pollution sources in malaysian drinking water using multivariate analysis. Environ Monit Assess 124, 39–50 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-9207-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-9207-8