Having safe drinking water is important to all Americans. The Environmental Protection Agency's decision in the summer of 2001 to delay implementing a new, more stringent standard for the maximum allowable level for arsenic in drinking water generated a great deal of criticism and controversy. Ultimately at issue were newer data on arsenic beyond those that had been examined in a 1999 National Research Council report. EPA asked the National Research Council for an evaluation of the new data available. The committee's analyses and conclusions are presented in Arsenic in Drinking Water: 2001 Update. New epidemiological studies are critically evaluated, as are new experimental data that provide information on how and at what level arsenic in drinking water can lead to cancer. The report's findings are consistent with those of the 1999 report that found high risks of cancer at the previous federal standard of 50 parts per billion. In fact, the new report concludes that men and women who consume water containing 3 parts per billion of arsenic daily have about a 1 in 1,000 increased risk of developing bladder or lung cancer during their lifetime.

Groundwater resources naturally contain high levels of arsenic in many parts of the world. Over the last two decades, the As-containing groundwater in South-East Asia has received much attention, but the situation is just as crucial in Latin America, where the number of studies is still relatively low, and the extent and severity of As-exposure in the populations has yet to be fully evaluated. This book aims to promote knowledge of the occurrence and genesis of As-rich groundwater in Latin America. It deals with constraints on the mobility of As in groundwater, As-uptake from soil and water by plants, As-propagation through the food chain, human health impacts, and As-removal technologies. Case studies are presented from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru, amongst others, and are viewed against the background of experience from other world regions. The book is a state-of-art overview of arsenic research in Latin America. It aims to create interest within the Latin American countries affected by the presence of arseniferous aquifers and to increase awareness among administrators, policy makers and company executives. It will also serve to inform the international scientific community, and improve international cooperation on arsenic in groundwater.

This book consolidates much of what is known about the geochemistry of arsenic and provides new information on relationships between high concentrations of arsenic in ground water and geochemical environments. The subject matter of this book ranges in scope from molecular-scale geochemical processes that affect the mobility of arsenic in ground water, to arsenic contaminated ground water at the national scale. Chapters were contributed by an international group of research scientists from a broad range of backgrounds.

This volume presents the recent developments in the field of arsenic in soil and groundwater. Arranged into nine sections, the text emphasizes the global occurrences of arsenic in the environment, particularly on its source, pathways, behavior, and effects it has on soils, plants, water, animals, and humans. It also covers the diverse issues of arsenic in the mining environment, arsenic emanating from hydrothermal springs, and the geochemical modeling of arsenic adsorption to oxide surfaces. Finally, the text includes different cost effective removal mechanisms of arsenic from drinking water using natural red earth, solar oxidation, and arsenic oxidation by ferrrate.Written in simple English, and few technical terms, the book is designed to create interest within the countries with occurrences of arsenic in drinking water with ·an update the current status of knowledge on the dynamics of natural arsenic from the aquifers through groundwater to food chain and efficient techniques for arsenic removal.·serve as a standard text book for graduate, postgraduate students and researchers in the field of Environmental Sciences and Hydrogeochemistry as well as researchers, environmental scientists and chemists, toxicologists, medical scientists and even for general public seeking an in-depth view of arsenic which had been classed as a carcinogen. ·bring awareness, among administrators, policy makers and company executives, on the problem and to improve the international cooperation

Arsenic Pollution summarizes the most current research on the distribution and causes of arsenic pollution, its impact on health and agriculture, and solutions by way of water supply, treatment, and water resource management. Provides the first global and interdisciplinary account of arsenic pollution occurrences Integrates geochemistry, hydrology, agriculture, and water supply and treatment for the first time Options are highlighted for developing alternative water sources and methods for arsenic testing and removal Appeals to specialists in one discipline seeking an overview of the work being done in other disciplines

Arsenic-contaminated groundwater has created one of the world's largest environmental health crises. This book addresses the arsenic issue within a scientific and social science framework, with the context set by environmental and legal considerations. The text explores the methodological issues of spatial, quantitative, and qualitative enquiries on arsenic poisoning, for instance, using GIS to investigate the distribution of arsenic-laced water in space-time to uncover the pattern of variations over scales from meters to kilometers. The authors also include spatial risk maps that indicate the possible long-term strategies of mitigation.

This book is a result of the Priority Programme 546 run by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. It presents the various ideas, concepts and conclusions that resulted from this Programme on the subject of geochemical processes with long-term effects in anthropogenically influenced drainage and ground water.