Collection Bottle Preparation: Typically a case (24jars) of 250mL jars is received, marked open, recorded and numbered. Jars are leached with a 1:1 HCL solution for a minimum of one hour. Jars are then rinsed with de-ionized water and tightly capped. One jar out of 24 is filled with mercury free reagent water and bromine chloride, and treated like samples in order to verify clean lots of sample/ field blank jars.
When a bottle order is received from a client these jars are leached, rinsed and 1.25mL of bromine chloride added. Jars are labeled for low level mercury testing and given to login for proper packaging in plastic bags, etc. for shipping or pick up.
When jars go out without bromine chloride, samples must be preserved within 48 hours of collection with BrCl onsite at Teklab. Per every 100mL of sample, 0.5mL of BrCl should be added. After preservation samples have 90 days to be analyzed.
Approved collection procedure for EPA 1631E is EPA 1669.
When samples are received from clients, there must be a yellow color present from the bromine chloride. Samples may be tested with starch iodide indicating paper and care must be taken to avoid mercury contamination. If indicating paper is not a dark purple color or sample is not yellow, more bromine chloride (1.25mL) must be added plus an additional 12 hours waiting time until color remains. A clean hands/dirty hands sampling approach is one of the best methods for reducing the possibility of mercury contamination while collecting the water samples.