Determination of As(III) and As(V) in hot spring and river waters by neutron activation analysis with pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate coprecipitation technique

The concentrations of As(III) and As(V) in natural hot spring and river waters collected in the Kusatsu-Shirane volcano area, Gunma, Japan, were determined by neutron activation analysis (NAA) preceded by the pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDC) coprecipitation. The PDC coprecipitation technique using Pb(PDC)(2) as a collector of As(III) was applicable to the determination of As(III) at mu g/L to mg/L levels. It was found important that the sufficient amount of PDC must be added to sample waters to accomplish the quantitative coprecipitation of As(III), taking the amounts of coexisting metal ions into consideration.