Analyzing Aquatic Systems: The Integration of Green Chemistry Principles in Water Quality Testing

Abstract

Industrialization and the ongoing human activities that continue to add environmental pollutants mandate that the monitoring of the quality of water be sustainable, dependable and timely. In general, prior technologies, though highly sensitive, continue to use of hazardous reagents, frequent organic solvent extractions and large amounts of energy for instruments, and many generate toxic residues in the overall scheme. The green chemistry guidelines thus, prescribe directions toward water quality monitoring which is less toxic, safer, efficient, sustainable for clean water, and is able to protect under-water natural habitats. This review highlights how the necessity of reducing the pollution of water, lowering toxicity and the real-life conditions prompt us towards rapid water quality tests. Various approaches including microextraction techniques, paper-based devices, microfluidic platforms, biosensors, greener and gentler oxidants and reduction in the handling of solvent are covered. New strategies like solid-phase microextraction (SPME), dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLME) and hollow-fiber microextraction (HFME) could reduce the use of organic solvent in an efficient and sensitive manner. A good amount of research interest is focused on portable, low-power, hand-held and rechargeable biosensor systems and microfabricated devices that allow in situ analysis of the samples. The green methods also are applied to foods and plants as well as waters. For example, for the applications of water in analysis of nutrients and heavy metals, there is the in-situ estimations of some harmful pollutants into the water media by reduced matrix effects and it may also apply to pollution remediation of those substances. However, matrix effect, scalable operation and other practical considerations of such green technologies must be discussed at length. Incorporating green chemistry into water testing is a vital step toward sustainable environmental monitoring for promoting the resilience of healthier aquatic ecosystems.