Evaluation of Arsenic (As) Removal from Synthetic Drinking Water Using Under-Sink Filters by ICP-MS

Arsenic (As) in drinking water is known to cause serious health issues, and point-of-use under-sink filtration systems are commonly used to mitigate arsenic exposure at the domestic level. The arsenic removal performance of a commercially available reverse osmosis (RO)-based under-sink filtration system was assessed using synthetic drinking water samples and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Arsenic-contaminated synthetic drinking water samples were filtered in the laboratory and analyzed for arsenic content using ICP-MS. The accuracy of the analytical procedure was confirmed by analyzing certified reference materials, namely Enviromat Wastewater Low (EU-L), NIST SRM 1643f, and UME CRM 1201. The obtained recovery percentages ranged from 97.28% to 100.5%, confirming the accuracy and reliability of the analytical technique. The arsenic removal efficiencies achieved by the filtration system ranged from 97.41% to 98.96%, while effluent concentrations remained below internationally accepted drinking water guideline values. The method detection and quantification limits were found to be 0.028 µg/L (LOD) and 0.095 µg/L (LOQ), respectively, indicating sufficient sensitivity for trace-level arsenic measurement.