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The aim of this project was to develop an ICP-MS method for the determination of rare earth elements (REE) in order to investigate the REE content of Dutch surface, ground- and drinking water. Only Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Eu were investigated. When the instrumental variables were optimized for minimum oxide levels, performance characteristics were following: -the detection limit was 1 mug/l for Sc, 200 ng/l for La and 50 ng/l for the other Ree (3s; n=25) ; - the calibration curve was linear up to at leat 20 mug/l ; - the precision amounted to 1.5% RSD at elevated concentrations. The determination of La was disturbed by contamination of laboratory glassware and overlap from Ba-138 and La-139 peaks in samples with high Ba content. The determination of Sc was not possible in ground- and drinking water samples because of variable background signals and serious Si spectral interferences. Spectral interferences due to major components in groundwater were negligible (apart from the interferences mentioned). Matrix effects were reduced or absent after dilution of the samples to less than 2.5 mM Ca, 2.5 mM Mg, 0.25 mM Fe and 20 mM Na. The ICP-MS method was applied to the analysis of 60 ground- and drinking water samples from 20 locations in the Netherlands and on four surface water samples. A quarter of the samples had concentrations within the working range (50 ng/l - 20 mug/l) ; the other samples had concentrations below the detection limit.