Photometric screening-test for heavy metals under flow injection conditions using extractive determination with dithizone

A fast, automated and inexpensive screening-test for recognizing heavy metal contamination in water samples is described to avoid costly and time-consuming determination by atomic absorption spectrometry. The test is based on the reaction of Cd2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ with dithizone at pH 6 and the extractive photometric determination in a flow injection system. The test was developed for drinking, surface and waste water and was verified with a large number of real samples.