The method described ('ICPAES method', for short) serves to determine silver, aluminium, arsenic, boron, barium, beryllium, bismuth, calcium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, potassium, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, nickel, phosphorus, lead, sulfur, antiomny, selsnium, silicon, tin, strontium, titanium, vanadium, tungsten, zinc and zirconium in water (e.g. waste water and surface water), in concentrations not lower than those given in Table 1.