A simple and low cost means of determining the concentration of oxine copper in tap and river water by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to an ultraviolet detector (UV) has been investigated. A good linearity of the calibration curve was obtained in the concentration range of 0.1 mgl^-1 to 2 mgl^-1 (r=0.999-0.988) . The detection limit based on S/N=3 was 0.075, μg ml^-1 for oxine copper. Acetonitrile was recommended to elute oxine copper, based on method development for the cartridge-type solid phase. The recovery for oxine copper from river water spiked at a concentration of 5 μgl^-1 was 88.8%, and the relative standard deviation was 3.3 % using the activated carbon column method. This analytical method was successfully applied to the determination of oxine copper in tap and river water.