ORGANIC MICROCOMPONENTS OF WATER AND APPLIED ASPECTS OF ASSESSING THEIR CHANGES UPON STORAGE IN PET PACKAGING

The main goal of the study is to identify the composition of dissolved organic matter in different types of natural water impacted by the contact with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging materials during the storage. The objects studied are natural waters from underground and surface sources. After the contact with a PET material there are clearly visible changes in a microcomponent composition that can be explained as a consequence of exchange processes between PET and a solution (water of different composition and geochemical type). The article presents the results of an experiment on the assessment of the interaction of methane, hydrogen sulfide and fresh groundwater with PET packaging, as well as data on the chemical composition of dissolved natural organic microcomponents in water of various origin. The activity of the compounds contained in packaging materials (polymers) entering the solution, as well as their absorption by the packaging material during water storage, is quantitatively estimated. Attention is focused on the interaction of water of different chemical composition and different types with the same kind of packaging (glass and polyethylene terephthalate). This is a direct consequence of the nonequilibrium of water as a geochemical component of systems, which predetermines changes in the water composition depending on many factors. Significant changes in the composition of the polyarenes and phthalates complex in groundwater of various geochemical types have been revealed. Activation of the entry of organic matter from containers is explained by the electrolytic properties of the stored water composition and the properties of packaging materials. The need to introduce fundamentally new water quality standards is shown: the current SanPIN 2.1.4.1116-02 "Drinking water. Hygienic requirements for the quality of water packaged in containers. Quality control" should be supplemented by expanding and revising the list regulating the content of dissolved organic substances taking into account the influence of packaging materials.