Although many Pb 2+-selective optodes have been developed so far, methods using optical sensor membranes have not become widespread in environmental analytical practice. In order to create a bulk optode sensor, which can overcome all of the main drawbacks in the application of conventional optode membranes,-ie, pH-dependence, long response time and the leakage of the ionic components-unusually thick PVC membrane was developed, embedded in microtiter plates and operated on a novel concept. This is the first reported work, which applies a plate-format optode as well as a direct optode-type sensing membrane for determination of Pb 2+. We reported here also the first example for the application of an ionic component-free bulk optode membrane to avoid the membrane leakage, improve the regenerability and extend the lifetime of the membrane. The reported sensor has a LOD above 4.0× 10− 7 M (∼ 83 μg L− 1), thus it is unsuitable for the effective monitoring of drinking waters, but considered to be a promising method for monitoring contamination episodes. On the other hand, the widest pH-independent working range of 4.3< pH< 7.0 among bulk optodes reported in the literature was realized and an unprecedentedly fast response time of< 10 s was achieved. The effectiveness of the applied method was investigated by measuring Pb 2+-spiked multicomponent aqueous solutions as simulated environmental or wastewater samples containing near equimolar amounts of Ag+, Ca 2+, Co 2+, Cu 2+, K+, Mg 2+, Na+ and Zn 2+ as acetate salts. In the presence of these potential competing ions with a concentration not greater than the typical ionic strength of surface freshwaters (∼ 10− 3 M) the reported sensor proved to be appropriate for the selective detection of Pb 2+ without any preparation of the samples (eg, preconcentration, buffering, addition of excipients, etc.) with a required sample volume of only 100 μL. An outstanding analytical performance could be achieved within an average time of less, than 5 s/sample. The reported fluorescent probe is considered to be a promising method for replacing atomic absorption spectroscopy-(AAS), anodic stripping voltammetry-(ASV) or inductively coupled plasma-(ICP) based techniques as well as conventional ion-selective bulk membranes in high-throughput preliminary environmental monitoring of Pb 2+, as it provides a cheap and unprecedentedly fast qualitative analysis of contaminated surface and wastewaters.