Distribution of the total arsenic content in drinking water obtained from different water sources in the Republic of Macedonia

The present study investigates the total arsenic (As) content in the samples of drinking water in the Republic of Macedonia, which is obtained from different water sources, such as: springs, surface accumulations, underground accumulations and drilled wells. From January 2013 to December 2013, a total of 780 samples obtained from the public water supply systems at 35 measurement points distributed throughout the whole territory of the Republic of Macedonia were analyzed on the total As content. A flow injection atomic absorption spectrometry (FIAS) was employed for the determination of the total As content after wet digestion of the samples with nitric acid (67%, W/V) and hydrogen peroxide (30%, V/V). The results of the study revealed that in 96.7% of the tested samples, As content was below established maximum allowable concentration (MAC) of 10 μg/L. As concentrations up to 26.4 μg/L were found in the samples of drinking water that comes from the water sources located in the vicinity of Kozhuf Mountain, which is due to the mineral composition of the mountain body rich with As containing minerals: lorandite, orpiment, realgar, arsenopyrite etc. Higher As concentrations (5.47 μg/L – 26.6 μg/L) were also found in the samples of drinking water obtained from the water supply system of the towns from the Dojran Municipality which are located in the vicinity of thermal-mineral area of Mala Boshka– Toplec. It can be concluded that the presence of total As in the potable water in the Republic of Macedonia comes only from natural sources