Of all the naturally occurring groundwater contaminants, arsenic is by far the most toxic. Any large-scale treatment strategy to remove arsenic from groundwater must take into consideration safe containment of the arsenic removed with no adverse ecological impact. Currently, 175 well-head community-based arsenic removal units are in operation in remote villages of the Indian subcontinent. Approximately 150,000 villagers collect arsenic-safe potable water everyday from these units. The continued safe operation of these units has amply demonstrated that use of regenerable arsenic-selective adsorbents is quite viable in remote locations. Upon exhaustion, the adsorbents are regenerated in a central facility by a few trained villagers and reused. The process of regeneration reduces the volume of disposable arsenic-laden solids by nearly 2 orders of magnitude. Finally, the arsenic-laden solids are contained on well-aerated coarse-sand filters with minimum arsenic leaching. This disposal technique is scientifically more appropriate than dumping arsenic-loaded adsorbents in the reducing environment of landfills as currently practiced in developed countries including the United States.
Sudipta Sarkar,† Lee M. Blaney,† Anirban Gupta,‡ Debabrata Ghosh,‡ and Arup K. SenGupta*†
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Howrah, West Bengal, India
Sudipta Sarkar,† Lee M. Blaney,† Anirban Gupta,‡ Debabrata Ghosh,‡ and Arup K. SenGupta*†
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Department of Civil Engineering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Howrah, West Bengal, India
