Determination of lead in Mashhad city tap water by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Summary Lead from drinking water is one of the sources of lead exposure that contributes to the total amount of lead in the body. In this study we measured the lead concentration of tap water in Mashhad city randomly, by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) technique. The precision of the method was evaluated. The CV% of 6 replicate determinations at 5 µg/l Pb was 3.7 in one day and was 4.5, among 6 consecutive days. The recovery of spiked samples (98.1%) showed that the proposed method is reliable for the determination of trace amounts of lead in water samples. Lead concentration in tap water in the city of Mashhad was 4.27±2.49 µg/l. Although drinking water lead levels of Mashhad is within the standard limit of World Health Organization at present, but the rise of industrialization and their wastes in the margins of the city can make a lot of problems in the long term for drinking water. Therefore, regular estimation of lead and other toxic elements in drinking water is recommended.