Patent ID: 7897032

Claim:
A method for detecting and identifying concentration levels of metal, metalloid, or non-metal ions comprising: measuring environmental metrics of a liquid sample; preparing and isolating contaminants of concern in a flow of a liquid sample into metal, metalloid, or non-metal ionic forms; identifying and determining a concentration of metal, metalloid, or non-metal ionic species through stripping voltammetry; and comparing a value of a stripping signal of the sample with a predetermined value to determine if dilution of the sample is required; wherein identifying and determining a concentration of metal, metalloid, or non-metal ionic species through, stripping voltammetry includes a quiet time of about 10 sec and changing a deposition potential from about −2.5V to about +2V, changing an initial potential from about −2.5V to about +2V, changing a final potential from about −2.5V to about +2.0V, changing a time of deposition, changing a linear scan rate from about 0.05V/sec to about 1V per second, changing a type of linear scan, and changing a number of cleaning scans from about 1 to about 50.