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The determination of polyvinylalcohol (PVA) by the formation of the blue iodine–PVA complex method was established for a semi-micro method scale. The direct addition of iodine solution proved to be a better iodine source than iodine generatedin situ. The ageing of reagents requires frequent calibrations. Common biopolymers such as starch, albumin and cellulose produced much lower colour intensity with reagents and their impact on the analysis is negligible. The method is not affected by paper filter filtration. The detection of PVA was successfully tested in different wastewater types and the method proved to be a powerful tool for PVA detection. It must be emphasised that quantification of PVA is strongly dependent on the PVA type and the quantification capacity; without information of the PVA structure or type is only tentative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]