Arsenic Mitigation Technologies from Ground Water: A Brief Review

Abstract

Contamination of drinking water due to the presence of as has become a global environmental and socio-economic threat. The appearance of high Arsenic (As) in drinking water causes a serious health issue around the world. Many countries in different parts of the world have reported high arsenic concentrations. Among all groundwater arsenic contamination affected countries, the position of Bangladesh is the worst. Therefore, it is very important to develop affordable and efficient techniques to remove As from drinking water to protect human health. The most used methods are oxidation, coagulation, adsorption, ion exchange, and membrane technologies. Oxidation is usually used as pretreatment for most of the methods. Coagulation is the most common arsenic mitigation technology in Bangladesh. This technique is effective from pH 6-8. Ion exchange resins can only remove arsenate. Activated alumina beds work best in slightly acidic waters and usually have much longer run times than ion exchange resins. A cost-effective method for mitigation of As from drinking water is the use of low-cost adsorbent. Membrane methods which are more costly than other arsenic mitigation techniques but very effective where very low arsenic levels are required. Providing a safe water source may not possible in some of the arsenic affected regions or sometimes this process becomes very expensive. Mitigation of As from drinking water may be more appropriate in these situations. This paper presents a review of the conventional methods used for mitigation of As from contaminated drinking water.