EPA-NERL: 340.1: Fluoride by Colorimetry

Summary
Analytes
Revision
Data and Sites

Official Method Name

Fluoride, Total (Colorimetric, SPADNS with Bellack Distillation)

Current Revision

Issued 1971; Editorial Revision 1974 and 1978

Media

WATER

Instrumentation

Spectroscopy (Colorimetry; Photometry)

Method Subcategory

Inorganic

Method Source

EPA-NERL

Citation

Methods for the Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes (MCAWW) (EPA/600/4-79/020)

Brief Method Summary

Following distillation to remove interferences, the sample is treated with SPADNS reagent. The loss of color resulting from the reaction of fluoride with zirconyl-SPANDS dye is a function of fluoride concentration.

Scope and Application

This method determines fluoride in drinking, surface, and saline waters; domestic and industrial wastes.

Applicable Concentration Range

0.1 - 1.4 mg/L

Interferences

Reagent Addition: Error in reagent addition is the most prominent source of error in this test.

Quality Control Requirements

None.

Sample Handling

Care must be taken to avoid overheating the flask above the solution level.

Maximum Holding Time

28 days (MCAWW, Table 1).

Relative Cost

Less than $50

Sample Preparation Methods

This method has 1 analyte associated with it.

Analyte	Detection Level	Bias	Precision	Pct False Positive	Pct False Negative	Spiking Level
Fluoride(16984-48-8) Fluoride	0.100 mg/L	107% Rec (ML)	15.00 % RSD (ML)			0.50 mg/L

Precision Descriptor Notes:	Precision and accuracy values were calculated using interlaboratory data from EPA-managed Water Pollution (WP) performance evaluation studies.
Detection Level Note:

Revision	PDF/Link
Issued 1971; Editorial Revision 1974 and 1978

The Water Quality Portal contains sample results from sites that use this method.

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EPA-NERL: 340.1: Fluoride by Colorimetry

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