Standard Test Method for
Total Mercury in Water1

This standard is issued under the fixed designation D 3223; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
This standard has been approved for use by agencies of the Department of Defense.

1. Scope

1.1 This test method2 covers the determination of total
mercury in water in the range from 0.5 to 10.0 µg Hg/L (1). 3
The test method is applicable to fresh waters, saline waters, and
some industrial and sewage effluents. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure the validity of this test method for waters of
untested matrices.

1.1.1 The analyst should recognize that the precision and
bias of this standard may be affected by the other constituents
in all waters, as tap, industrial, river, and wastewaters. The cold
vapor atomic absorption measurement portion of this method is
applicable to the analysis of materials other than water (sediments, biological materials, tissues, etc.) if, and only if, an
initial procedure for digesting and oxidizing the sample is
carried out, ensuring that the mercury in the sample is
converted to the mercuric ion, and is dissolved in aqueous
media (2,3).

1.2 Both organic and inorganic mercury compounds may be
analyzed by this procedure if they are first converted to
mercuric ions. Using potassium persulfate and potassium
permanganate as oxidants, and a digestion temperature of
95°C, approximately 100 % recovery of organomercury compounds can be obtained (2,4).

1.3 The range of the test method may be changed by
instrument or recorder expansion or both, and by using a larger
volume of sample.

1.4 A method for the disposal of mercury-containing wastes
is also presented (Appendix X1) (5).

1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the application

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