Overview
ISO 15089:2000 - "Water quality - Guidelines for selective immunoassays for the determination of plant treatment and pesticide agents" provides guidance for using selective immunoassays (antibody-based assays such as ELISA) to quantify pesticides, insecticides and their metabolites in drinking, ground and surface water. The standard addresses procedural principles, sampling and sample preparation, reagents and apparatus, assay validity and reporting. For drinking-water analysis the document indicates an application range around 0.05 µg/l and specifies that the method’s determination limit should be at this level.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope and purpose: Guidance for selective quantitative immunoassays applied to environmental contaminants (pesticides/haptens) in water.
- Analytical principle: Competitive immunoassays (heterogeneous solid-phase formats) using antibodies, tracers and calibration with analyte standards (EIA/ELISA, fluorescence or luminescence variants).
- Assay components: Antibodies/antisera, coating (hapten–carrier) conjugates, enzyme or fluorescence tracers, buffered washing solutions and stopping reagents (acid/base).
- Sampling & sample prep: Conformance with ISO 5667 series for sampling design, techniques and preservation; raw water is typical, with optional concentration or cleanup for matrix interference removal.
- Interferences & matrix effects: Identification and mitigation of adsorption, humic substances, salinity, solvents and pH effects; use of spike recovery and cross-absorption where necessary.
- Apparatus & consumables: Solid phases (microplates, beads, magnetic particles), multipipettes, magnetic racks, calibrated dispensers.
- Quality criteria: Calibration, determination limits (noted at ~0.05 µg/l for drinking water), validity criteria, precision (interlaboratory data included) and reporting requirements.
- Supplementary information: Informative annexes include a flowchart/pipetting scheme and interlaboratory precision data.
Applications and who uses it
ISO 15089 is intended for:
- Environmental and public-health laboratories performing pesticide screening in water.
- Drinking-water utilities and regulators monitoring compliance and early warning.
- Manufacturers of immunoassay kits and assay developers validating antibody specificity and cross-reactivity.
- Research groups applying antibody-based methods for rapid field screening prior to confirmatory instrumental analyses (e.g., LC-MS/MS).
Practical uses include rapid, cost-effective screening of water for pesticide residues, routine monitoring programs, and pre-screening to prioritize samples for confirmatory analysis.
Related standards (referenced)
- ISO 5667-1, -2, -3 (water sampling design, techniques, preservation)
- ISO/TR 13530 (analytical quality control for water analysis)
Keywords: ISO 15089:2000, water quality, immunoassays, ELISA, pesticides, drinking water, pesticide residues, antibody assays, competitive immunoassay, detection limit 0.05 µg/l.