1994年，美国环境保护局颁布了旨在降低饮用水中消毒副产品（DBP）水平的新规则。DBP是由氯和其他消毒剂与天然有机物反应形成的潜在危险化合物，包括三卤甲烷（CHCl3、CHBrCl2等）、卤乙酸和其他卤化物质。新规定还包括通过测量总有机碳（TOC）浓度来监测原水、处理过程中和成品水中天然有机物的水平。 拟议的规则将调节成品水中允许的总有机碳水平，作为水源总有机碳和碱度的函数。环保局还宣布了一项信息收集规则（IC），以调查更大的处理系统，以协助制定最终的消毒副产品规则。ICR需要广泛的监测，包括TOC和消毒副产品的实验室研究。本文描述了一项广泛的研究，旨在开发一种新技术，用于测量有机化合物氧化形成的CO2，这也导致了TOC分析仪的开发，该分析仪非常适合饮用水应用。 分析仪易于使用，不需要频繁维护、吹扫气体或试剂制备，新型CO2传感器的校准稳定1年。该分析仪具有很宽的动态范围（0.5 ppb至50 ppm），可用于几乎所有类型水样的TOC测量。

In 1994, the United States Environmental Protection Agency promulgated new rules aimed at reducing the levels of disinfectant byproducts (DBP) in drinking water. Formed from the reaction of chlorine and other disinfectants with naturally occurring organic matter, DBPs are potentially hazardous compounds including trihalomethanes (CHCl3, CHBrCl2, etc), haloacetic acids, and other halogenated species. The new rules also include monitoring the levels of natural organic material in raw water, during the treatment process and in the finished water by measurement of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) concentrations. The proposed rules would regulate allowable TOC levels in the finished water as a function of source water TOC and alkalinity. The EPA also announced an Information Collection Rule (IC) to survey larger treatment systems to assist in the development of the final Disinfection By-Products Rule. The ICR requires extensive monitoring including TOC, and benchscale studies for disinfection byproducts. This paper describes an extensive study to develop a new technique for the measurement of CO2 formed from the oxidation of organic compounds which has also led to the development of a TOC analyzer that is ideally suited for drinking water applications. The analyzer is easy to use, does not require frequent maintenance, purge gases or reagent preparation and the calibration of the new CO2 sensor is stable for 1 year. The analyzer has a wide dynamic range (0.5 ppb to 50 ppm) and can be used for TOC measurement in virtually all types of water samples.