Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188: 504 DOI 10.1007/s10661-016-5477-y Determination of total arsenic and arsenic species in drinking water, surface water, wastewater, and snow from Wielkopolska, Kujawy-Pomerania, and Lower Silesia provinces, Poland Izabela Komorowicz & Danuta Barałkiewicz Received: 24 March 2015 /Accepted: 7 July 2016 /Published online: 4 August 2016 # The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Arsenic is a ubiquitous element which may observed. However, in snow sample collected in Legni- be found in surface water, groundwater, and drinking ca, more than 97 % of the determined concentration, water. In higher concentrations, this element is consid- amounting to 81 ± 11 μgL−1, was in the form of As(III), ered genotoxic and carcinogenic; thus, its level must be the most toxic arsenic species. strictly controlled. We investigated the concentration of total arsenic and arsenic species: As(III), As(V), MMA, Keywords Total arsenic . Arsenic species . Speciation . DMA, and AsB in drinking water, surface water, waste- Water . ICP-MS . HPLC/ICP-MS water, and snow collected from the provinces of Wielkopolska, Kujawy-Pomerania, and Lower Silesia Abbreviations (Poland). The total arsenic was analyzed by inductively As(III) Arsenite coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and arse- As(V) Arsenate nic species were analyzed with use of high-performance AsB Arsenobetaine liquid chromatography inductively coupled plasma CPE Cloud point extraction mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP-MS). Obtained results CRM Certified reference material revealed that maximum total arsenic concentration de- DDTP Diethyldithiphosphate termined in drinking water samples was equal to − DMA Dimethylarsenic acid 1.01 μgL 1. The highest concentration of total arsenic − (dimethylarsinate) in surface water, equal to 3778 μgL 1 was determined EDTA Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid in Trująca Stream situated in the area affected by ETAAS Electrothermal atomic geogenic arsenic contamination. Total arsenic concen- absorption spectrometry tration in wastewater samples was comparable to those FI-HG-AAS Flow injection-hydride determined in drinking water samples. However, signif- generation atomic icantly higher arsenic concentration, equal to − absorption spectrometry 83.1 ± 5.9 μgL 1, was found in a snow sample collected FI-ICPMS Flow injection inductively in Legnica. As(V) was present in all of the investigated coupled plasma mass samples, and in most of them, it was the sole species spectrometry GF-AAS Graphite furnace atomic : absorption spectrometry I. Komorowicz (*) D. Barałkiewicz HG-AAS Hydride generation atomic Department of Trace Element Analysis by Spectroscopy Method, Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, absorption spectrometry 89b Umultowska Street, 61-614 Poznań,Poland HG-AFS Hydride generation atomic e-mail: [email protected] fluorescence spectrometry 504 Page 2 of 22 Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188: 504 HG-CT-AFS Hydride generation- TAs Total arsenic cryotrapping coupled to TMAO Trimethylarsine oxide atomic fluorescence USEPA US Environmental spectrometry Protection HG-CT-ICPMS Hydride generation- Agency cryotrapping coupled to WDXRF Wavelength-dispersive inductively coupled X-ray fluorescence plasma mass spectrometry spectrometry WHO World Health HG-ICP-AES Hydride generation Organization inductively coupled plasma atomic/optical emission spectrometry HPLC High-performance Introduction liquid chromatography HPLC/ICP-MS High-performance Arsenic is widely distributed in surface water, ground- liquid chromatography water, and drinking water. Its concentration in different inductively types of water varies considerably. In some cases, it coupled plasma mass significantly exceeds expected mean values for arsenic spectrometry and maximum permissible arsenic concentration iAs Inorganic arsenic allowed for drinking water, indicating a degree of pol- ICP-AES Inductively coupled lution (Fowler et al. 2007). plasma atomic emission Arsenic pollution is a worldwide problem many sci- spectrometry entists have repeatedly expressed concern about. As a ICP-MS Inductively coupled result, the biological and environmental consequences plasma of its contamination are being studied in detail. Al- mass spectrometry though most researchers focus on the arsenic originating ICP-SF-MS Inductively coupled from the natural sources, human activities (such as plasma sector field smelting of arsenic bearing minerals, the disposal of mass spectrometry industrial waste, or burning of fossil fuels) can locally INAA Instrumental neutron introduce a very high contamination (Bissen and activation analysis Frimmel 2003; Matschullat 2000). LC Liquid chromatography Issue of great importance is presence of arsenic in LC-HGAFS Liquid chromatography groundwater used as a source of drinking water. In hydride generation atomic recent years, cases of arsenic pollution have been re- fluorescence spectrometry ported in many countries such as the USA, China, MDL Method detection limit Bangladesh, Pakistan, Taiwan, Chile, Argentina, Japan, MMA Monomethylarsenic acid Turkey, Thailand, Mexico, Vietnam, and India (Simsek (methylarsonate) 2013; He and Charlet 2013;Sorgetal.2014; Smedley n.d. Not detected and Kinniburgh 2002;Bergetal.2001; Gammons et al. ORS Octopole reaction system 2005, Brahman et al. 2013). Due to permanent excessive PAs Particulate arsenic level of arsenic, some countries, including Bangladesh, SPE Solid-phase extraction Mexico, Vietnam, and India, have considerably raised SPE-DLLME- Solid-phase extraction its level in drinking water. It is presumed that around 40 SFO coupled with dispersive million people in Bangladesh live at immediate risk due liquid–liquid to arsenic pollution (Bissen and Frimmel 2003). An microextraction analysis of 20,000 tube-well waters indicated that arse- based on the solidification nic levels in drinking water are above the maximum of floating organic drop permissible concentration limit of 10 μgL−1 (WHO Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188: 504 Page 3 of 22 504 2011) in case of 62 % of tube-well waters. In some of this element (Cornelis et al. 2005; Brahman et al. places, its concentration was as high as 3700 μgL−1 2013). Although there is a vast amount of information (Bagla and Kaiser 1996). There are also many papers on the occurrence and concentration of total arsenic in reporting similar arsenic concentration, reaching several different types of water, the data on the speciation of thousand μgL−1 (Berg et al. 2001; Brahman et al. 2013; arsenic are limited (Sorg et al. 2014;Haqueand Smedley et al. 2002; Farnfield et al. 2012; Gammons Johannesson 2006). The shortage of information on et al. 2005;Aiuppaetal.2003; Bednar et al. 2004). It the speciation of arsenic may be partially attributed to has been estimated that as many as 60–100 million the complexity, cost, and time needed to perform arsenic people globally may be at risk of exposure to excessive speciation analyses (Sorg et al. 2014). Nevertheless, it is levels of arsenic (Ng et al. 2003). Since arsenic contam- essential to develop sensitive and precise analytical ination provides such a huge problem in many places in procedures to identify and quantify arsenic species in the world, it is worth to mention that various methods of water (Baig et al. 2010; Hirata and Toshimitsu 2005). its elimination from the aqueous environments are avail- The USEPA has elaborated a document reviewing able. Besides conventional remediation techniques such the science and technologies for monitoring arsenic in as osmosis, ion exchange, or electrodialysis, for remov- the environment (USEPA 2004). The methods approved ing metal or metalloids from water, biosorption is char- by USEPA include inductively coupled plasma-mass acterized by the significant development in recent years spectrometry (ICP-MS), inductively coupled plasma [Basu et al. 2014;Abidetal.2016]. One of the greatest atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), graphite fur- advantages of this process is material of biosorbent, nace atomic absorption (GFAAS), and hydride genera- which is easy and commonly available, and inexpen- tion atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS), all of sive. A lot of different agricultural and food-industry which may be characterized by method detection limits biowastes such as coconut shell, coconut coir pith, man- (MDL) ranging from 0.5 to 50 μgL−1 (USEPA 1999; go leaf, rice polish, or tea waste have been examined as Ma et al. 2014). The choice of an adequate analytical potential biosorbents for As-contaminated water. These method is dictated by the purpose of our analysis, the various approaches are widely discussed in the paper of level of analyte’s concentration in concrete matrix, and Shakoor et al. (2016). One of the most recent paper the type of compound in which analyte is present. The concerns As(V) biosorption with application of food most often applied strategy is connection of HPLC processing biowastes, more specifically orange peel separation with ICP-MS detection (Komorowicz and biowaste. This research revealed that with use of Baralkiewicz 2014;Bednaretal.2004;Shraimetal. charged orange peel, it was possible to remove 98 % 2002;Dengetal.2009;Jabłońska-Czapla et al. 2014)or of As(V) from the solution containing 200 mg L−1 of AFS detection (Yu et al. 2014;Gongetal.2006;Keller As(V) using 4 g L−1 of biosorbent [Abid et al. 2016]. et al. 2014;Fariasetal.2015). Coupling of HG system In most aquifers, bio-geo interactions probably dom- to AAS (Berg et al.