The spectrometric techniques of inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) are compared for their applicability to regulatory water analyses, bearing in mind recent method approval changes. ICP-OES is found to be at its limit for confident detection of several elements for drinking water analysis, but is still suitable for many environmental water quality measurements. ICP-MS is the closest there is to a universally applicable technique for water analysis.
