Determination of Priority Metal Contaminants in Drinking and Source Water

Heavy metal contamination of drinking water can lead to a severe effect on the ecosystem and the public health. The major sources of contamination include industrial and domestic waste discharge as well as the natural abundance of heavy metal containing minerals. Therefore, the extent of contamination depends on source water, geological composition, and the treatment strategies including a distribution network system. In this study, twelve drinking water samples from Murray Water System network are analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry for ten metals (antimony, arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, selenium, and thallium) identified as priority pollutants by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Analytes were quantified using internal standard and linear regression equations (R2 \u3e 0.999) from seven-point calibration curves. The triplicate recovery of spiked analytes was range from 90.9 ±5.7% (arsenic) to 105 ± 2.5% (thallium). The method detection limit of analytes in tap water ranged from 0.6 ppb (barium) to 79.8 ppb (selenium). Barium (10.2 -26.1 ppb) and calcium (4620-14 800 ppb) were detected in all (n=12) drinking water samples. Wastewater, river water, and lake water will be analyzed to determine the occurrence and fate of metal contamination