Arsenic in Argentina: Technologies for arsenic removal from groundwater sources, investment costs and waste management practices

Marta I. Litter*, Ana M. Ingallinella, Valentina Olmos, Marianela Savio, Gonzalo Difeo, Lía Botto, Elsa Mónica Farfán Torres, Sergio Taylor, Sofía Frangie, Jorge Herkovits, Isidoro Schalamuk, María José González, Eliana Berardozzi, Fernando S. García Einschlag, Prosun Bhattacharya, Arslan Ahmad

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

86 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An overview about the presence of arsenic (As) in groundwaters of Argentina, made by a transdisciplinary group of experts is presented. In this second part, the conventional and emerging technologies for As removal, management of wastes, and the initial investment costs of the proposed technologies, with emphasis on developments of local groups are described. Successful examples of real application of conventional and emerging technologies for As removal in waters for human consumption, for medium, small and rural and periurban communities are reported. In the country, the two most applied technologies for arsenic removal at a real scale are reverse osmosis and coagulation-adsorption-filtration processes using iron or aluminum salts or polyelectrolytes as coagulants. A decision tree to evaluate the possible technologies to be applied, based on the population size, the quality of the water and its intended use, is presented, including preliminary and indicative investment costs. Finally, a section discussing the treatment and final disposal of the liquid, semiliquid and solid wastes, generated by the application of the most used technologies, is included. Conclusions and recommendations, especially for isolated rural and periurban regions, have been added.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)778-789
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume690
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Nov 2019

Keywords

  • Argentina
  • Arsenic
  • Drinking water
  • Mitigation
  • Removal technologies

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