Waterborne asbestos: Good practices for surface waters analyses

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Mineralogy

Background:

• Asbestos monitoring has historically focused on air, with limited attention to water matrices.
• Waterborne asbestos poses non-conventional exposure risks and can be a source of airborne asbestos through water-to-air migration.
• Regulatory approaches for studying waterborne asbestos are fragmented due to scarce research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the reliability and interlaboratory reproducibility of an existing analytical method for natural waters.
• To identify error-prone steps in the analytical protocol for waterborne asbestos detection.
• To propose best practices for reliable asbestos analysis in surface water samples.

Main Methods:

• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis of a standard chrysotile sample in a water matrix.
• Mimicking stream water conditions as per the Piedmont Environmental Protection Agency protocol.
• Testing the method with different operators and analytical setups to assess reproducibility.

Main Results:

• Three datasets generated from the same sample exhibited low interlaboratory reproducibility.
• Variability in results suggests potential issues with the current analytical protocol.
• Specific analytical steps contributing to discrepancies were identified and discussed.

Conclusions:

• The existing analytical method for waterborne asbestos shows poor reproducibility.
• Standardization and refinement of analytical protocols are necessary for reliable detection.
• Proposed good practices aim to improve regulatory consistency and accuracy in asbestos monitoring in water.