The arsenic (As) contaminated sediment serves as a long-term source of arsenic because its mobility and transport in the environment are strongly influenced to associated solid phase. A single extraction method based on the reagents employed in the BCR three steps sequential extraction scheme (BCR-SES) for partitioning of arsenic (As) in sediment samples has been developed. The single-step extraction enabled a reduction of extraction times, yielding extractable contents in accordance with those obtained by application of the BCR-SES, which can be regarded as a standard method and validated by using certified reference material BCR 701. The extractable As content associated with different phases in sediment samples were analysed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The extraction efficiency of As by single-step extraction was slightly higher than BCR-SES, ranged (100-104%), while difference was not significant at 95% confidence limit with < 10% precision. The sediment samples from different origins varied in their physico-chemical properties and total As content. The relative mobility of As obtained from different origins was found in increasing order as: acid soluble fraction < oxidizable fraction < reducible fraction. The acid soluble fraction of As was higher in lake sediment samples as compared to those of canal and river sediments, indicating the contamination of lake ecosystem. (C) 2009 Elsevier BY. All rights reserved.