Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The requested gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC--MS/MS) system supports an imperative equipment requirement of three Environmental Eng. faculty in the School of Eng. (SoE) at the University of British Columbia (UBC)'s Okanagan Campus (UBCO). The team aims to understand the fate/behaviour of legacy trace contaminants of emerging concern (TCEC; e.g., pharmaceuticals/personal care products, flame retardants, pesticides, dioxins, and furans) and disinfection-by-products (DBPs) in conventional and advanced water and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processes. It is vital that they are accurately quantified to comply with regulations under consideration for plant effluent and biosolids streams for expansions and new treatment facilities. Timing of on-going projects is crucial as Metro Vancouver's Liquid Waste Services Department is developing new plants (i.e., North shore WWTP, Northwest Langley WWTP, Iona Island WWTP) and considering upgrades to the other two existing plants (i.e., new anaerobic digesters at Lulu and Annacis Island WWTPs). This is approaching $4 billion of capital infrastructure investment over the next 15 years, and key decisions can be informed by the findings significantly enhanced through the IRC program and the requested GC-MS/MS. The team urgently needs an advanced GC--MS/MS system with high sensitivity to obtain accurate quantification of chemical, biochemical, and environmental compounds at low limit of quantitation, preferable parts per billion (ppb) or lower as per European Union and North American reporting level of TCEC and DBPs. This is currently impossible with our existing equipment. The equipment will support the training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) and enable the potential projects and partnerships that are out of reach for many industrial and municipal partners due to the unavailability of a GC-MS/MS in the vicinity. The lack of a GC-MS/MS on our campus has resulted in the loss of multiple collaboration opportunities with industrial partners in the Okanagan (e.g., Regional Districts of the North and Central Okanagan, BC First Nations Health Authority) and has caused significant research interruptions, including HQP not being trained and delays to students' graduations and publications. The three co-investigators currently supervise approximately 30 HQP and the training potential of the instrument can be as high as 50 HQP including the researchers in the teams of the potential users within the SoE and the Faculty of Sciences. Having an GC-MS/MS facility on Campus will allow the efficient, repeatable, and timely quantification of nearly all legacy TCEC, DBPs and biochemical compounds (in tandem with existing analytical facilities). The skills gained with this equipment will help HQP to secure jobs in the private and public sector in various engineering and science disciplines dealing with analysis of environmental, biochemical and pharmaceutical samples (e.g. AECOM, Bureau Veritas, ALS Labs).