Natural Environment Monitoring 2007, No 8, 19-27
THE POSSIBILITIES OF USING ANALYSIS OF METAL FORMS OCCURRING IN SURFACE WATERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
Anna Rabajczyk
Summary
Water cycle and a fact that water is a very good solvent cause that water does not occur in nature as a chemically pure compound made of oxygen and hydrogen but it is a very diluted solution of salts, acids, bases and gases. Colloidal compounds and suspensions are present in water together with substances diluted in water. Water contains almost all natural substances occurring in Earth’s crust or admixtures and anthropogenic substances or pollutants. Amount and types of substances in natural waters may vary and they depend on their universally occurring in given environment, solubility and physicochemical processes shaping the transformations. Chemical composition of rivers, lakes and ground water changes significantly under the influence of natural factors such as chemistry of elements, weathering conditions or biological processes, and as well as a result of human activity. When performing environmental monitoring of tested ecosystem, in order to gather complete information, all ecosystem components have to be analysed. Field research including location and evaluation of research area with regard to geological aspect as well as land development should be taken into account as well as field and laboratory analysis including analyte forms in different environmental samples. The introduction of the metals adsorbed on suspension matter or other solid particles analysis into procedure of metal analysis in water is necessity and gives the possibility of receives information about concentration of metal forms.
