Bromate pollutant in ozonated bottled Zamzam water from Saudi Arabia determined by LC/ICP-MS

Abstract

Bromate (BrO₃ ⁻) as a human carcinogenic pollutant in bottled drinking Zamzam water from Mecca, Saudi Arabia has been determined using liquid chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC/ICP-MS). For analysis, samples were injected directly without any further pretreatment, using only 50 μL injection volume. The method showed: 0.5 μg/L detection limit, 1.0 μg/L limit of quantification and 1.0–200.0 μg/L linearity range (r² = 0.9998). The relative standard deviation (%RSD) values for reproducibility (interday precision) obtained are at 11 % and 14 % for bromate and bromide at low concentration levels (5, 10 μg/L) and at 4 % for both at high concentration levels (50, 100 μg/L), respectively. The results concluded that the ozonated bottled Zamzam water samples are contaminated with bromate. The concentration is 20 times higher than U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) allowable limit (10 μg/L) for bromate in bottled drinking water. Bottled drinking water brands, disinfected with ozone showed relatively lower levels of bromate as compared with Zamzam water.

Keywords:

• Bromate
• bromide
• Zamzam
• LC/ICP-MS

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center for financial support.