Electrochemical Arsenic Remediation (ECAR)

A Bangladeshi woman shows the lesions on her hands, a typical symptom of arsenic poisoning. She recently discovered that she has cancer. Photo Credit: Susan Addy

In Bangladesh, more than 90% of the population depends on individual shallow tube wells for drinking water. About 10 years ago it came to be recognized that most of these wells are severely contaminated with arsenic, exposing 40-70 million Bangladeshis to a poison known to cause cancers in addition to a number of other debilitating and painful adverse health effects. The shallow tube wells are widely distributed among a diverse rural population, forcing water treatment to occur at the local level where it is traditionally least efficient and hardest to maintain.

The Electrochemical Arsenic Removal (ECAR) project focuses on the use of electrochemical processes to remove arsenic from water. Research has demonstrated that this process can remove high concentrations of arsenic from groundwater using only small amounts of iron and electricity as inputs. ECAR has many advantages: it can be used affordably, applied on a small-scale, rapidly disseminated, easily maintained and produces little waste. Project members are focusing on fine-tuning ECAR while taking into account the economic and technical requirements to function successfully in remote areas.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ashok Gadgil, Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Lead Researcher: Susan E.A. Addy, PostDoc, Civil and Environmental Engineering, LBNL
Field Location: Bangladesh, Cambodia and India
Partners: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Dow Sustainable Products and Solutions Program (Haas School of Business)
Website: http://arsenic.lbl.gov