Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash (ARUBA)

William Babbitt measures the arsenic concentration of a tubewell in Matlab Upazila before interviewing the well owner about the value his family places on clean drinking water. Photo credit: Shefah Qazi (June 2008)In Bangladesh, naturally-occurring arsenic has poisoned shallow tube wells used for drinking water, consequently exposing 40-70 million Bangladeshis to dangerously high levels of the toxin. Unfortunately, most of the people affected by arsenic are also among the world's poorest. Bangladesh is currently experiencing the largest case of mass poisoning in human history.

Supported by the Blum Center and the Berkeley Arsenic Alleviation Group (BAAG), a team of UC Berkeley faculty and students are designing a device and process that utilizes a material known as bottom ash that quickly, effectively, and inexpensively removes arsenic from drinking water. The annual cost for the raw materials needed to produce enough ARUBA (Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash) for one person is about 8 U.S. cents. Researchers estimate that total treated water costs would be $7 - $15 per person, per year. In addition to additional field testing and design improvements, the current phase of this project focuses on devising a way to scale-up bottom ash production, developing a sustainable business plan for a community-scale arsenic removal system. A public health and socioeconomic survey has also been initiated with the help of researchers at BRAC University.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ashok Gadgil, Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Lead Researcher: Johanna Mathieu, MS/PhD student, Mechanical Engineering
Field Location: Bangladesh
Partners: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology; BRAC University
Website: http://arsenic.lbl.gov