Current monitoring strategies based only on target-screening methods are not sufficient to fully address water contamination issues. High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) based on non-target screening is therefore a promising monitoring tool. Wastewater, surface, and underground water samples were collected based on a geographical model correlating the sampling points with potential pollution sources (i.e. river infiltration, industrial site, WWTPs). After SPE pre-treatment, samples were analyzed with HPLC coupled with either Orbitrap-MS or QTOF-MS in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the pollution state. Analyses were carried out using the SWATH DIA mode (QTOF) and full-scan followed by a top-5 ddMS2 (Orbitrap), allowing an extensive detection of every detectable compound. In addition to vendor software, data were processed using mzMine 2 and MS-DIAL, and evaluated by multivariate statistical analysis. Cluster and Principal Component Analysis were also used to understand the contamination trends among the different water bodies investigated. A total of 649 compounds have been identified and introduced in the NORMAN European Database.
Oceans, seas and watersAddressing target audiences and expressing needs
- Help in technical expertise
- Use of research Infrastructure
- Collaboration
Given that European countries rely mainly on groundwater resources for their drinking water needs, we are interested in providing expertise to a new promising monitoring tool based on non-target High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) that can provide a more comprehensive picture of the contamination status of water bodies which in combination with conventional monitoring methods (such as major ions, stable isotopic tracers) can provide the evaluation of the pollution patterns in the aquifers.
- Academia/ Universities
R&D, Technology and Innovation aspects
HRMS data from Campaign-1 (2019) have been deposited to the NORMAN database via the DSFP (https://norman-data.eu/AQUAlity). Soon, HRMS data (QTOF) from Campaign-II will also be available. The 649 identified compounds will be added to the NORMAN SLE (https://www.norman-network.com/nds/SLE). Chemometrics will be used to further investigate HRMS data and the results will be submitted for publication.
