There are several common water quality parameters that are used to further understand and characterize natural organic matter (NOM) for different water and wastewater treatment applications, such as Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC), Specific UV Absorbance (SUVA) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD).

Many of these parameters are complicated, time consuming and expensive to test. This makes them impractical to use on a regular basis causing an inability to perform routine daily monitoring which is vital to the success of many water and wastewater treatment methods.

However, many of these parameters, including the UV 254nm parameter, can be used as supplements or surrogates to one another. Given its affordability, ease of use and accuracy, Real Tech Inc.’s UV 254nm instrumentation provides the most practical organic testing solution.

Correlations between UV 254nm and these other organic test parameters can be made for specific sites. A graph which demonstrates the excellent correlation of the UV 254nm organic water quality parameter to DOC can be seen below.