Abstract:
Phosphates are essential elements for all life, including plant growth and
photosynthesis in algae. They also stimulate the growth of plankton and aquatic
plants which provide food for marine life. However, if an excess of Phosphates
enters a water-way, algae and aquatic plants grow excessively, choking up the
waterway and using up large amounts of oxygen. This condition is known as
eutrophication or over-fertilization in turn causes the death of aquatic life because
of tire lowering of dissolved oxygen levels. This can also affect human health if the
water is consumed. Therefore, monitoring is essential for effective water quality
management. An indispensable key to the accomplishment of this objective are
methods for measuring phosphates that are accurate and reliable.
