Special Report No. 02-03: Semipermeable Membrane Devices for Determining Absolute or Relative Water Column Concentrations of Non-Polar Chemicals in Aqueous Systems

A review of the scientific literature relevant to the use of semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) for making in situ measurements of either the absolute or relative concentrations of non polar chemicals in ambient receiving waters is provided. In addition, results from an SPMD deployment focused on polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a small, channelized river removed from the influence of near-field point sources are reported and interpreted in light of the discussion presented in the review. The experimental results illustrate that SPMD deployments incorporating a moderate degree of replication (n=5) can provide precision sufficient to detect statistically significant (p=0.