Technique Removes Arsenic From Drinking Water

By: Francis C. Assisi
August 27, 2004

Boston, 27 August -- Indian American researchers at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, have invented a technique to remove highly poisonous arsenic from contaminated water to a level far below that mandated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards that take effect Jan. 23, 2006.

Associate Professor Katta J. Reddy of the Department of Renewable Resources and graduate student Viswatej Attili of Hyderabad have discovered that laboratory-produced cupric oxide particles can purge highly poisonous arsenic species from contaminated water to a level far below that mandated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards that take effect Jan. 23, 2006.

The results were presented August 19th at theFirst Annual CBNG Research, Monitoring, and Applications Conference in Laramie, Wyoming.

Already, the work has resulted in a licensing agreement between the university and Arsenic Removal Technologies, Inc. (ARTI) to commercialize and market the process, which is being pursued by several other water companies. ARTI is a subsidiary of a technology transfer company based in Plant City, Fla.

Advantage Reddy´s Method

Reddy achnowledges that his coup came after three years of research. While other techniques have been able to remove only the less toxic arsenate species of arsenic, Reddy´s technique also eliminates the more lethal arsenite from water.

"There have been processes proposed that work, but they have been very cumbersome and time consuming," Reddy reports. "Our procedure is very simple, rapid and effective. What surprised me the most is that it reduces arsenic to a nondetectable level."

Reddy says he developed the filtering procedure in his water quality laboratory about 15 months ago while actually investigating ways to remove selenium from water. "To be positive, we confirmed and reconfirmed the findings by doing continual testing to make sure we had enough information," he notes.

UW graduate student Viswatej Attili has been assisting Reddy as part of his master´s program. The two experimented with water spiked with arsenic and also with water samples collected from natural sites in Wyoming and Montana and from coal bed methane production areas.

"Finally we realized what we had," Reddy says. "Given the magnitude of the arsenic problem, several water industries are quite interested in what we are doing."

Recent studies suggest that high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water are found in the United States and throughout the world in countries such as Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam, according to Reddy.

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported 18th August that high levels of arsenic in large parts of the Ganges Delta have poisoned millions of people during the last 2 decades and the risk of contamination of drinking and irrigation water with arsenic continues to pose a threat to the lives of millions worldwide. And it is estimated that Arsenic in water from tube wells in Bangladesh and West Bengal is currently poisoning around 20 million people. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning have already reached epidemic proportions and cataclysmic effects are predicted if the majority of people in affected areas are not soon provided with safe drinking water

Long-time exposure to the toxin by humans has been linked to skin, lung, bladder and kidney cancer and can also lead to fatal cardiovascular and nervous system breakdowns. Meanwhile, Medical Study News reported August 11th that a recent Columbia University based study of children exposed to arsenic-tainted water in Araihazar, Bangladesh, found that arsenic in drinking water was significantly associated with reduced intellectual function.

The National Research Council reports that most arsenic enters water supplies either from natural deposits in the earth´s crust or from industrial pollution. It is also a byproduct of copper smelting, mining and coal burning. Plants absorb arsenic fairly easily, so high-ranking concentrations may be present in some foods. Contaminated organisms consumed by fish can lead to the deaths of birds feeding on freshwater animals.

Arsenic has been on Reddy´s personal hit list for a long time. A native of India, he points to the 35 million people in India and Bangladesh who were inadvertently mass poisoned in the 1970s and 1980s by lethal doses of the toxin in drinking water ironically contaminated during the digging of four million tube wells meant to supply clean water. A continued reliance on well drilling coupled with population increases has exacerbated the problem in the past 25 years.

He hopes the technological simplicity of his invention will make it affordable to underdeveloped countries.

Professor Tom Thurow, head of the renewable resources department, says Reddy´s research "is an example of creativity and hard work that has resulted in the development of an elegant, practical procedure that can be used to address a very serious environmental problem. This scientific advance has great potential to significantly improve the health of many people by improving the quality of water upon which they rely."

In the United States, the new EPA standards designed to protect consumers against the effects of long-term, chronic exposure to arsenic in drinking water call for the reduction of the element in public water systems from 50 to 10 micrograms per liter and for the increased monitoring of water sources.

HydroFlo, Inc., of Raleigh, N.C., holds a worldwide exclusive license to Reddy´s process. "The technology produces no harmful byproducts, and removal does not require altering the pH of inflow water," according to a spokesman for the company. "In addition, this method is not affected by the presence of most other compounds found in water such as sulfates."

Reddy, who earned a doctoral degree in environmental quality from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, is now preparing a report on his findings that he hopes to publish in a well-known journal. Because his discovery is being marketed, he will receive funding to continue his arsenic research.

What excites him as much as the benefits he hopes his invention will produce from both a human and environmental health perspective is the fact that he can share his work with his students.

"When you can take research into the classroom, it makes your teaching so much more relevant and effective," he explains. "Students realize that what they learn can be used to help solve a real world problem."

Dr Reddy currently teaches Principles of Water Quality and Watershed Water Quality Management at the University.

After earning his B.S. (1976) and M.S. (1980) degrees from Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, Reddy went on to obtain his Ph.D. (1986) in Agronomy and Environmental Qualtiy from Colorado State University.

Besides experimenting with methods to remove pollutants such as Arsenic, Selenium, Nitrate and Fluoride from contaminated water, Reddy´s research interests include integrated approaches to protect and monitor water quality, chemistry of natural waters (soil water, surface water, groundwater), speciation of trace elements in natural waters, water quality modeling and water quality legislation.

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