Natural Arsenic in Groundwater: Occurrence, Remediation and Management Proceedings of the Pre-Congress Workshop 'Natural Arsenic in Groundwater (BWO 06), ... Congress, Florence, Italy, 18-19 August 2004

356 Pages·2005·5.2 MB·English

by  Jochen Bundschuh

NATURAL ARSENIC IN GROUNDWATER: OCCURRENCE, REMEDIATION
AND MANAGEMENT

PROCEEDINGS OF THE PRE-CONGRESS WORKSHOP “NATURAL ARSENIC IN
GROUNDWATER (BWO 06)”, 32ndINTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS,
FLORENCE, ITALY, 18–19 AUGUST 2004
Natural Arsenic in Groundwater:
Occurrence, Remediation and
Management
Edited by
Jochen Bundschuh
International Technical Co-operation Programme CIM (GTZ/BA), Frankfurt, Germany –
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad ICE, San José, Costa Rica
Prosun Bhattacharya
Groundwater Arsenic Research Group, Department of Land and Water Resources
Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
D. Chandrasekharam
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India
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ISBN 04 1536 700 X (Print Edition)
Natural Arsenic in Groundwater:Occurrence, Remediation and Management –
Bundschuh, Bhattacharya and Chandrasekharam (eds)
©2005, Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 04 1536 700 X
Table of Contents
Preface IX
List of Contributors XI
Section 1: Arsenic occurrence and genesis in sedimentary and
hard-rock aquifers
Arsenic in groundwater of the Bengal Delta Plain: geochemical evidences for small 3
scale redox zonation in the aquifer
F.Wagner, Z.A. Berner & D. Stüben
Genesis of arsenic contamination of groundwater in alluvial Gangetic aquifer in India 17
S.K. Acharyya & B.A. Shah
Arsenic pollution in groundwater of West Bengal, India: Where we stand? 25
D. Chandrasekharam
Mineralogical characteristics of the Meghna floodplain sediments and arsenic 31
enrichment in groundwater
A.M. Sikder, M.H. Khan, M.A. Hasan & K.M. Ahmed
Naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater of Terai region in Nepal and mitigation options 41
N.Tandukar, P. Bhattacharya, G. Jacks & A.A. Valero
High arsenic concentrations in mining waters at Kanˇk, Czech Republic 49
A. Koprˇiva, J. Zeman & O. Sracek
Natural arsenic in the groundwater of the alluvial aquifers of Santiago del Estero 57
Province, Argentina
P. Bhattacharya, M. Claesson, J. Fagerberg, J. Bundschuh, A.R. Storniolo,
R.A. Martin, J.M. Thir & O. Sracek
Arsenic source and fate at a village drinking water supply in Mexico and its relationship 67
to sewage contamination
J.M. Cole, M.C. Ryan, S. Smith & D. Bethune
Arsenic contamination of the Salamanca aquifer system in Mexico: a risk analysis 77
R. Rodriguez, M.A. Armienta & J.A. Mejia Gómez
Arsenic pollution in aquifers located within limestone areas of Ogun State, Nigeria 85
A.M. Gbadebo
Section 2: Environmental health assessment-arsenic in the food chain
Arsenic in groundwater and contamination of the food chain: Bangladesh scenario 95
S.M.I. Huq & R. Naidu
Arsenic contamination in groundwater in Nepal: a new perspective and more health threat 103
in South Asia
S.R. Kanel, H. Choi, K.W. Kim & S.H. Moon
V
Estimating previous exposure to arsenic for populations living in parts of Hungary, 109
Romania and Slovakia
R.L. Hough, G.S. Leonardi & T. Fletcher
Arsenic bioaccumulation in a green algae and its subsequent recycling in soils 119
of Bangladesh
S.M.I. Huq, A. Bulbul, M.S. Choudhury, S. Alam & S. Kawai
Environmental behavior of arsenic in a mining zone: Zimapán, Mexico 125
M.A. Armienta, R. Rodríguez, O. Cruz, A. Aguayo, N. Ceniceros, G. Villaseñor,
L.K. Ongley & H. Mango
Section 3: Arsenic biogeochemistry in groundwater
Natural enrichment of arsenic in groundwaters of Brahmanbaria district, Bangladesh: 133
geochemistry, speciation modeling and multivariate statistics
O. Sracek, P. Bhattacharya, M. von Brömssen, G. Jacks &
K.M. Ahmed
Microbial processes and arsenic mobilization in mine tailings and shallow aquifers 145
J. Routh & A. Saraswathy
Geochemistry and geomicrobiology of arsenic in Holocene alluvial aquifers, USA 155
J.A. Saunders, M.K. Lee & S. Mohammad
Arsenic contamination in drinking water of tube wells in Bangladesh: statistical 163
analysis and associated factors
M.A. Hossain, M. Amirul Islam, M.O. Gani & M.A. Karim
The impact of low dissolved oxygen in recharge water on arsenic pollution in 173
groundwater of Bangladesh
Md. N. Islam & R.D. Bob von Bernuth
Section 4: Remediation of arsenic-rich groundwaters
Technologies for arsenic removal from potable water 189
W. Driehaus
Natural enrichment of arsenic in a minerotrophic peatland (Gola di Lago, Canton Ticino, 205
Switzerland), and implications for the treatment of contaminated waters
Z.I. González-Acevedo, M. Krachler, A.K. Cheburkin & W. Shotyk
A comparative study for the removal of As(III) and As(V) by activated alumina 211
T.S. Singh & K.K. Pant
Comparing the arsenic sorption capacity of Bauxsol™and its derivatives with other 223
sorbents
H. Genç-Fuhrman, D. McConchie & O. Schuiling
Optimization of the removal of arsenic from groundwater using ion exchange 237
C.N. Mulligan, A.K.M. Saiduzzaman & J. Hadjinicolaou
Sorption of arsenic on sorghum biomass: a case study 247
N. Haque, G. Morrison, G. Perrusquía, I. Cano-Aguilera,
A.F. Aguilera-Alvarado & M. Gutiérrez-Valtierra
Removal and recovery of arsenic from aqueous solutions by sorghum biomass 255
Z.I. González-Acevedo, I. Cano-Aguilera & A.F. Aguilera-Alvarado
VI
Optimisation of iron removal units to include arsenic removal 263
A.K. Sharma, J.C. Tjell & H. Mosbæk
A simple and environmentally safe process for arsenic remediation – laboratory and 273
field evaluation
K. Misra, M.T. Companywala, S. Sharma, A. Srivastava & P.C. Deb
Section 5: Management of arsenic-rich groundwaters
Management of the groundwater arsenic disaster in Bangladesh 283
K.M. Ahmed
Strengthening water examination system in Bangladesh 297
H. Jigami
Implementation of safe drinking water supplies in Bangladesh 307
C.F. Rammelt & J. Boes
Sustainable safe water options in Bangladesh: experiences from the Arsenic Project 319
at Matlab (AsMat)
Md. Jakariya, Mizanur Rahman, A.M.R. Chowdhury, Mahfuzar Rahman,
Md. Yunus, A. Bhiuya, M.A. Wahed, P. Bhattacharya, G. Jacks, M. Vahter &
L.-Å. Persson
Prerequisite studies for numerical flow modeling to locate safe drinking water wells in 331
the zone of arsenic polluted groundwater in the Yamuna sub-basin, West Bengal, India
S. Mukherjee
Author index 339
VII

Natural Arsenic in Groundwater:Occurrence, Remediation and Management –
Bundschuh, Bhattacharya and Chandrasekharam (eds)
©2005, Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 04 1536 700 X
Preface
Groundwater is an important resource that serves as a backbone of human development. In several
regions, mostly in developing countries, groundwater from sedimentary and hard rock aquifers
used for drinking is naturally contaminated with arsenic. In different countries in Asia such as
India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, the situ-
ation of arsenic toxicity is alarming and severe health problems are reported amongst the inhabit-
ants relying on groundwater as sources of water for drinking purposes. Arsenic occurrences in
groundwater in Bengal Delta Plain of West Bengal, India and Bangladesh is one of the largest
environmental health disasters of the present century, where over 50 million people are at risk of
cancer and other arsenic related diseases. In these same countries, land and agricultural sustain-
ability is threatened by the use of arsenic contaminated irrigation water. In several Middle- and
South-American countries, for example in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, high arsenic is
reported in natural waters. In Argentina, at least 1.2 million people are affected. Elevated levels of
natural arsenic in groundwater due to geogenic sources is therefore an issue of primary environ-
mental concern, which limits the use of these resources for drinking or other purposes, and hin-
ders the socio-economic growth. Hence there is a need to improve our understanding on the
genesis of high arsenic groundwaters from the various aquifers in order to develop strategies to
save millions from this calamity.
This publication comprises articles concerning the occurrence of arsenic in groundwater, its
mobility constraints, water-sediment interactions, various other related themes concerning aqueous
geochemistry of arsenic in sedimentary and hard rock aquifers and other natural environmental sys-
tems around the world, assessment of environmental health risks and impacts, and the arsenic
removal technologies. These articles are based on the papers presented during the Pre-Congress
Workshop Natural Arsenic in Groundwater (BWO 06), which was held on 18–19 August 2004, as an
event of the 32ndInternational Geological Congress in Florence, Italy between August 20–28, 2004.
The book is divided into five sections, covering the following themes:
1. Arsenic occurrence in sedimentary and hard-rock aquifers: Case studies from Argentina, India,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, Czech Republic and Mexico are presented in 10 Chapters.
2. Environmental health assessment – Arsenic in the food chain: Fate of arsenic in soil, water and
crops - extent, sources, characterization and background levels, implications to human health,
south Asian experience, toxicological impacts and environmental health assessment of arsenic
poisoning are discussed in 5 Chapters.
3. Arsenic biogeochemistry in groundwater: This section deals with the speciation and mobility
controls of arsenic, mechanisms of redox transformations through biotic and abiotic processes,
influence of microbiota and the microbial reactions and their implication for arsenic mobilization,
speciation modeling, adsorption/desorption processes, thermodynamic constraints on arsenic sol-
ubility and statistical analyses of hydrogeochemical parameters, presented in 5 Chapters.
4. Remediation of arsenic rich groundwaters: The removal of arsenic from groundwater is an
important global issue. Several millions of people are drinking water with elevated levels of
arsenic compared to the drinking water standards recommended by World Health Organization
(WHO). Various of treatment technologies are available for removal of arsenic worldwide,
which range from sophisticated ion exchange and reverse osmosis, simple conventional
coagulation-flocculation technique and small scale filters. Incidences of elevated arsenic con-
centrations in groundwater within the developing countries with poor infrastructure demand
technologies that are effective and affordable for the provision of safe drinking water supply to
the affected population. This section comprises 9 different Chapters, which discuss various low
IX