Magnetite was synthesized by coprecipitation and functionalized with 2,3-Dimercaptosuccinic Acid (DMSA). The formation of the magnetite was confirmed using x-ray diffraction (XRD) whereas the nanoparticle functionalization was verified by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Due their extremely small particle size, the recovery and handling of magnetite crystals from water becomes a very difficult and cumbersome task. Therefore, magnetite nanocrystals were immobilized in calcium alginate beads (CAB), to form a magnetic nanocomposite. In this work, the uptake capacity of CAB alone, DMSA-magnetite and CAB-(DMSA)magnetite for arsenite and arsenate species were evaluated. Maximum uptakes of l.lOmg/g sorbent and 1.04mg/g sorbent of arsenate and arsenite species, respectively, were achieved using functionalized DMSA-magnetite. The removal of arsenate and arsenite species using CAB alone was negligible.