Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwater Arsenic Menace in India

Technological Options and Arsenic Removal Technologiesbe appropriate to add ferric coagulant, in the beginning of the iron removal process, to optimizearsenic removal.The effectiveness of arsenic co-precipitation, with iron, is relatively independent of sourcewater pH, in the range 5.5 to 8.5. However, high levels of organic matter, orthophosphates andsilicates, weaken arsenic removal efficiency by competing for sorption sites on iron hydroxideprecipitates (Fields et al., 2000a, b).In-situ Oxidation: In-situ oxidation of arsenic and iron in the aquifer was tried underDPHE-Danida Arsenic Mitigation Pilot Project in Bangladesh. The aerated tube well water wasstored in a tank and released back into the aquifers, through the tube well, by opening a valve ina pipe connecting the water tank to the tube well pipe under the pump head. The dissolvedoxygen content in water oxidizes arsenite to less mobile arsenate and also the ferrous iron in theaquifer to ferric iron causing a reduction in arsenic content of tube well water. Experimentalresults showed that arsenic in the tube well water following in-situ oxidation has been reduced toabout half due to underground precipitation and adsorption on ferric iron.Solar Oxidation: SORAS is a simple method of solar oxidation of arsenic in transparentbottles to reduce arsenic content from drinking water. The Department of Sanitary Engineeringof AIIH&PH, Kolkata has studied the efficacy of arsenic removal by solar oxidation andprecipitation and achieved 85 to 95% arsenic removal. The method is only applicable if the ironcontent in the groundwater exists beyond permissible level so as to adsorb the arsenate fromwater. Wegelin et al. (2000) have also used solar oxidation to reduce arsenic content of drinkingwater. Ultraviolet radiation can be used to catalyze the process of oxidation of arsenite in thepresence of other oxidants like oxygen (Young, 1996). Experiments in Bangladesh have shownthat the process on average could reduce arsenic content of water to about one-third.Passive Sedimentation: Passive sedimentation also received considerable attentionbecause of rural people's habit of drinking stored water from pitchers. Oxidation of water, duringcollection and subsequent storage in houses, may cause a reduction in arsenic concentration instored water (Bashi Pani). Experiments, conducted in Bangladesh, showed zero to highreduction in arsenic content by passive sedimentation. Arsenic reduction, by plain sedimentation,appears to be dependent on water quality particularly the presence of precipitating iron in water.Ahmed et al. (2000) have shown that more than 50% reduction in arsenic content is possible bysedimentation of tube well water containing 380-480 mg/L of alkalinity as C aCO 3and 8-12 mg/Lof iron. But this cannot be relied upon to reduce arsenic to desired level. Most studies showed areduction of zero to 25% of the initial concentration of arsenic in groundwater. In rapidassessment of technologies, passive sedimentation has failed to reduce arsenic to the desiredlevel (BAMWSP, DFID, Water Aid, 2001).82NIH & CGWB