Leaching medium is an important factor affecting release of preservative components from treated wood because physical and chemical characteristics of medium increase or decrease the solubility of fixed preservative components. This study evaluated the leaching properties of copper, chromium and arsenic elements from chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood specimens subjected to laboratory leaching tests using distilled water, tap water, sea water and humic acid. Results showed that percentage element leaching was decreased with tap water leaching courses compared to distilled water. Synthetic sea water caused more arsenic and less copper and chromium losses in comparison with distilled water. However humic acid at 1% concentration was the most effective medium on the CCA leachability. We suggest that more realistic leaching tests methods should be developed to estimate the amount of preservative components to be released from treated wood in service.

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