Removing arsenic from groundwater for the developing world - a review

This paper is principally concerned with summarising the experience to date of treating arsenic containing ground/surface water by oxidation, coagulat ion/precipitation and adsorption processes. Arsenic (As) has been verified through epidemiological evidence as one of the most carcinogenic and toxic substances in surface and ground water. Oxidation, coagulation/precipitatio n, and adsorption have been widely used in arsenic removal and the study re sults demonstrated that these technologies can remove arsenic from ground/s urface water efficiently; the residual arsenic concentration in the effluen t could. be in the range of 5-10 mug/l, against the influent arsenic concen tration in the range of 10-500 mug/l. However, these technologies need to b e surveyed in orderto validate the efficiency, cost and maintenance requirm ents by considering social and economic situations and the availability of the local resources In the developing world.