The simplified acid peroxydisulphate digestion of soil water extract was evaluated for determination of total dissolved phosphorus by molybdenum-blue colorimetry in comparison with direct P-detection in water extract by the ICP-AES technique. The research was conducted on 79 agricultural soils with different agrochemical characteristics. The results of the colorimetric P detection in water extract without digestion and ICP phosphorus detection were different. The median of values determined by ICP-AES was 1.7 times higher than that of colorimetry, but the correlations between the two measurements were quite close (r = 0.993). Differences between the colorimetric phosphorus and ICP-AES phosphorus were irregular, increasing as the phosphorus level in soils decreased. The simplified procedure of acid peroxydisulphate digestion is useful for routine determination of total water-extracted phosphorus in soils when the soil testing laboratory is not equipped with the ICP-AES technique. The two-tailed paired t-test did not prove any difference in the values between the direct ICP-AES P-detection in water extract of soils and colorimetric P-detection in the acid peroxydisulphate digest.