Arsenic removal technologies

Q: I am looking for information about arsenic removal, preferably with images and technical details. It should be as simple and user friendly (easy to use) as possible.
(Senior professional officer, IRC, The Netherlands).

Answer: please take a look at the following resources:

[1] Prof. Richard Wilson of Harvard University maintains a regularly updated page on arsenic remediation methods, focusing mainly on Bangladesh and West Bengal.

He gives some important warnings:

“According to a recent study, villagers seem to be more willing to pay for running water than for arsenic free water. Thus, any solution which leads toward running water is to be preferred. […] Many experts and groups have stopped recommending small scale purification. […]. It is unclear … whether there exist ARS [Arsenic Removal Systems] that work on all waters in Bangladesh and which they are; and if a particular ARS only works on some waters how to decide whether it will work on a particular village water and how to explain all of this to the villagers affected.

Alternative solutions mentioned include deep drilled wells (>150 m), sanitary dug wells and rainwater harvesting with safe storage.

Positive results are mentioned for the prize-winning SONO filter, of which 21,000 have been distributed in Bangladesh. This filter is one of the four technologies approved for "provisional" use by the Bangladesh government, the others are READ-F, Sidko and MAGC/ALCAN.

Technology options are mentioned in the Government of Bangladesh Implementation Plan for Arsenic Mitigation. The annexes can be found in: http://phys4.harvard.edu/~wilson/arsenic/countries/bangladesh/National%20Water%20Policy%202003/

[2] Ahsan, T. (2002). Technologies for arsenic removal from groundwater.
In: Wijk-Sijbesma, C.A. van (ed.) and Smet, J.E.M. (ed.). Small community water supplies : technology, people and partnership. (Technical paper series / IRC; no. 40). Delft, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
More information and how to order: http://www.irc.nl/page/1917

[3] Petrusevski, B. … [et al.] (2006). Arsenic in drinking water. (Thematic overview paper). Draft. Delft, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre
This TOP outlines the global extent of arsenic contamination and its basic chemistry, as well as associated health problems. It looks at removal technologies for centralised and household point-of-use systems, and describes two case-study trials in Bangladesh and in Hungary.
You can download the whole document as a PDF, download separate chapters, or read a summary.

[4] Johnston, R. … [et al]. (2001). Safe water technology.
In: United Nations ACC Sub-Committee on Water Resources. United Nations synthesis report on arsenic in drinking water. Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization (WHO)