Speciation of Arsenic in Spring, Well, and Tap Water by High-performance Liquid Chromatography-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

Arsenic in water is a serious problem for organisms and the environment. Natural waters mostly consist of inorganic forms of As (III) and As(V) at concentrations below 1 ng/mL. Since the toxicity of these species is different, selective determination of trace As species in drinking water is important. Rapid speciation based on anion exchange chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry is reported. The species were separated within 4 min with the limits of detection of 0.012 and 0.019 ng/mL for As(III) and As(V), respectively. The method was applied to spring, well, and tap water from Cankiri, Turkey. Out of 25 samples, six samples exceeded the permissible drinking water limit of 10 ng/mL. The results showed that As(V) was predominant, while As(III) was also present, especially in well water making up to 16% of the total As.