Patent ID: 8336371

Claim:
A remote, on-line method of analyzing drinking water samples comprising the steps of: a) providing at least one stream of drinking water that has been disinfected with chlorinated or chloraminated materials; b) delivering said at least one stream of drinking water through a device that effectively and exclusively separates any volatile trihalomethane compounds from said at least one stream of drinking water into a stream of carrier gas and excludes any species that interferes with the measurement of such trihalomethane compounds therein; and c) delivering said stream of carrier gas including said volatile trihalomethane compounds through a multi-port valve for selective delivery to a chromatography analyzer, wherein said analyzer quantifies the amount of volatile trihalomethanes present within said carrier gas stream, which provides a reliable measurement of the total of such volatile trihalomethanes within said at least one stream of drinking water, wherein said multi-port valve alternates between delivering said carrier gas stream including said volatile trihalomethane compounds through to said chromatography analyzer or to a waste location by way of an actuator, wherein said method permits quantification of concentrations of individual trihalomethane compounds from the subject water sample as well as the concentration of the total amount of trihalomethane compounds within the same sample.