By: Lauren Jones & David Pinigis
Where can we find Arsenic?
Arsenic can be found all over the world
both from human activities and found in the
earth crust.
 West Bengal and Bangladesh have a
current problem with Arsenic in their water
tube wells.
 The problem affects most villages
surrounding the river Ganga in both West
Bengal and Bangladesh.
 Arsenic can be found in 63 of the 64
districts in Bangladesh.
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How has Arsenic entered into the
water sources?
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The problem started with malaria in the
surface water.
Around 2 million tube wells were dug to be
used as the main source of water, they are as
deep as 20-100 meters.
The arsenic itself is geological and occurs in
the alluvium along the river.
Release of As is due to dropping water levels
in the river, for agriculture uses, allows for
oxidation of the As.
Another source is from the water running over
As rich rocks into the wells.
Background on Arsenic(As)
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According to the U.S. Agency for
Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry, arsenic is the number
one most hazardous substances.
Is a metalloid, and stable in most
oxidation states.
Taste less, color less, and odor
less.
The lethal dose for humans is
125 mg.
It ranks 20th in abundance in the
earth’s crust compared to other
elements.
As is mostly excreted through
urine, skin hair, but in excess in
can be deposited into tissues,
which can lead to inhibition of
cellular activities.
Effects of Arsenic Poisoning
Melanosis (darkening of
the skin)
 Keratosis (growth of
keratin on the skin)
 Dark spots on the chest,
back, limbs, and gums
 Enlargement of the liver,
kidneys, and spleen
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Short Term
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Cancers of the skin, lung,
or bladder
Reproductive disorders
Blood vessel diseases in
the legs and feet.
Nephropathy (damage or
disease of the kidney) and
hepatopathy (disease or
disorder of the liver)
Gangrene (death of
tissues in part of the body)
Long Term
EPA and WHO Standards
EPA standard for arsenic in drinking water
is 10 ppb, which replaced the old standard
of 50 ppb in 2001.
 WHO has the standards of 0.01mg/L in
drinking water for Europe and North
America.
 The WHO standard for Bangladesh still
stands at 0.05mg/L
 A 1998 British Geological Survey, revealed
that 46 percent of tube wells contained
arsenic above 0.010 mg/L and 27 percent
above 0.050 mg/L
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What Is Currently Being Done To
Address The Problem?
Pumps are being
painted red to show that
the well which they tap
into is contaminated
with arsenic.
 Studies are being done
in different villages
around Bangladesh
each using various
removal methods, but
there has not been any
specific implementation
of those methods
throughout Bangladesh
or West Bengal.
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Non-Phytoremediation Methods
for Removal
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A household filtration system
consisting of a bucket sand filter
and a coagulant consisting of
phosphate and silicate. The
household treatment has shown a
decrease from 300µg/L down to
50µg/L
Arsenic Removal Using Bottom
Ash (ARUBA) a process of taking
well water and adding coal ash to
the water. The result is the
removal of arsenic from 200 –
900 ppb down below the standard
for Bangladesh of 50 ppb.
The SONO filter is a stack of two
buckets containing fine and
coarse river sand, an iron matrix,
wood charcoal, and wet brick
chips, the water then runs
through the two buckets removing
arsenic.
Latin America Used Filtration
System
Types of filtration: Coagulation/filtration,
iron/manganese oxidation, lime softening,
 Coagulation/filtration process:
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 Remove suspended colloids by changing
physical and chemical properties which result in
particles settling down and being filtered out.
Removal of Arsenite less effective then Arsenate
depending on the pH.
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Reported 375.7µg/L before filtration – after
120 minutes As concentration was between
10µg/L and 50µg/L
Pteris Vittata as a
Hyperaccumulator
A hyperaccumulator of arsenic must have a
minimum concentration of 1000 mg/ kg in
the aboveground biomass.
 Chinese Brake was first found on a site
that was contaminated from pressuretreating lumber using chromated-copperarsenate.
 Arsenic concentrations were found in the
fronds ranged from 1114 to 2046 mg/ kg
after growing in contaminated soil
containing 245 mg/ kg arsenic for 8 weeks.
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Pteris Vittata
•One
plant grown in 600 mL of
groundwater reduced the arsenic
concentration from 46 to less
than 10 μg/L in 3 days.
•Reused plants continued to take
up arsenic, but at a slower rate.
•Younger fern plants were also
more effective than older plants
at removal.
•The addition of phosphate
nutrition reduced its arsenic
affinity and inhibited removal.
Distribution of As In Different
Pteris Species In Frond and Root
Tissue
•Plants generally
contained a greater
percentage of As (III)
(79–94%)
than As (V) in the
fronds.
•As (III) is a
compound with
extremely high
toxicity.
• As (III) induces
enzyme inactivation
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
P. biaurita
P. quadriaurita
P. cretica
P. ryukyuensis
%As(V)
%As(III)
Fronds
%As(V)
%As(III)
Roots
Where In pteris vittata Is As Being
Stored?
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By the use of Extended X-Ray
Absorption Fine structure
(EXAFS), on samples taken
from the lamina of the frond,
stipe and root.
Most of the arsenic found in all
of the tissues was found in the
form or arsenite.
The greatest accumulation was
found in the epidermal and
mesophyll cells of the lamina
near the blades of the fern.
Another study also found that
the majority of arsenic was
found in the frond and roots of
the plant tissues.
The distribution pattern of the
As was found to be in sequence
with its hyperaccumulating
ability.
Beneficial Phytoremediation
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Rhizosphere microorganisms. Pseudomonas can
use As since some properties are close to
phosphates they are solubilized and taken up in
phosphate transporters. Also have an enzyme
arsenate reductase and also have arsenic oxidase.
Transform As to a form more available to plants
which positively increased the viability, growth and
development on plants when on polluted soils of As.
Positive: use microbes and genetically altered plants
to make As more bioavailable
Positive: more appealing then chemical treatment
Risk: genes could escape but the seeds do not
survive with large amounts of As
Risk: takes time
Our Proposal
We would use the pteris
vittata because versatile
and hardy, have a large
biomass, fast growing,
easy to reproduce and
are perennial plants
 We would use
hydroponic system
which the water would
be pumped through the
pteris vittata to clean the
water of the As. The
storage tank would then
collect the cleaned
water, the tank would be
used to prevent the
chance of malaria
outbreaks.
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Question or Comments?
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