1. General concept

Environmental chemical measurements are generally based on the analysis of abiotic matrices such as air, water, soils and sediments, as well as on the analysis of biological matrices (plants, biological tissues...); they concern a wide variety of chemical parameters (toxic substances and carcinogens, for example), physico-chemical parameters (pH, biological or chemical oxygen demand...), and physical parameters (temperature...) at various levels. Environmental analyses, in the broadest sense, also involve biological measurements (e.g. E. coli or Salmonella in water) but, given their specificity, these aspects will not be dealt with in this article, which focuses essentially on chemical measurements.

Environmental chemical analysis is becoming increasingly complex in view of the analytical problems encountered and the pressure on laboratories to provide representative...