Is There Any Household Method to Neutralize Arsenic in Drinking Water?

[Space05us]

The water Im going to be drinking within a month will be filled with it.

It does have relatively high levels of it though, 20-30 Parts Per Billion. The USEPA's maximum contaminant level is 10 Parts Per Billion.

For water containing greater than 10 PPB of arsenic, but not greater than 50 PPB of arsenic: Some people who drink water containing arsenic in excess of the new MCL over many years could experience skin damage or problems with their circulatory system, and may have an increased risk of getting cancer.

http://www.cabq.gov/waterquality/results/arsenic.html

[DeathByTheSword]

why are you going to drink it? and give me the chemical sign for Arsenic....i had chemistery as major for a year

[Dis]

it's probably safer to drink your own urine.

[Dinner]

Not if he's been drinking that water.

BTW you can thank Bush for putting arsenic in your drinking water since he's the one who rolled back much of the proconsumer regulations clinton put in place.

[Frankychan]

Maybe getting a charcoal filter would work...

[The Mad Monk]

Um, guys? We're talking parts per billion here.

Billion.

All the government's own site says is that you may have problems after many years of drinking the stuff.

I wouldn't worry.

[The Mad Monk]

...of course, I'm the guy who, when offered the choice of either black jack sphalerite or uraninite for use in his X-ray spectroscopy project, chose the uraninite.

[BeBMan]

Maybe you'll get immune if you drink enough of it....

[Space05us]

may have problems after many years of drinking the stuff.

I wouldn't worry.

Im going to be drinking gallons of the stuff everyday, and I plan on being very active. If I can I want to avoid any chance of damaging my circulatory system.

[rah]

Filtering seems to be the most common approach. Most sites refer to commercial applications or for wells.

One such example but includes a family possibility................

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Excessive arsenic in drinking water presents a major health hazard to millions of people in the United States and abroad. Arsenic, a carcinogen, is known to cause cancer and other serious health problems over time. Fortunately, engineers at Stevens Institute of Technology are on the leading edge of technology that can solve this insidious problem.
The Center for Environmental Engineering at Stevens has created patented technology for safely and effectively removing arsenic from drinking water. This technology has been developed on a large scale for water treatment plants and remediation sites, and on a low-cost, family-size scale for developing countries in crisis such as Bangladesh.


Stevens developed the Stevens Direct Coprecipitation Filtration process, successfully used in the United States for the removal of arsenic from contaminated groundwater and surface water since 1997. The DCF units can be installed in public water treatment plants as well as in groundwater remediation projects.

With changes in acceptable arsenic levels expected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, applications for this technology are likely to expand considerably in the 21st century in the United States. Congress has required the EPA to finalize a new standard by 2001. The expected change will have a major impact on the nation’s water treatment plants and individual water wells throughout the country. Heightened awareness in countries worldwide also will likely lead to more widespread use of both large and small-scale technologies developed by Stevens.

In Bangladesh, naturally occurring arsenic leaches into aquifers in high concentrations, threatening the health as many as 70 million people who drink well water. Stevens is currently working to help the Bangladeshi government provide low-cost, family-sized filtration systems to everyone in that country who needs them.

MetalFilter, a new company under development at Stevens, is bringing the Stevens technologies to commercialization. For more information, contact Cass Bruton-Ward at the number near the top of this release, or Dr. George Korfiatis, professor and director of Stevens’ Center for Environmental Engineering at (201) 216-5326.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Rah's article refers to Floculation using FeCl3. Charcoal or activated Carbon typically only used for removing hydrocarbons so would not be applicable.

Perhaps ion exchange collumns might also work although I do not know if it will work to teh ppb levels mentioned above.

[Dinner]

Reverse osmosis with the right sized semi-permeable membrane would also work. I doubt it would be feasible on the family home scale though.

[chequita guevara]

Get a Britta or Pur filter. Your individual chance to get cancer from arsenic is very small. It's when it's spread across hundreds of millions of people that you see problems. Of course, if you're one of the statistics, sucks to be you.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Reverse osmosis with the right sized semi-permeable membrane would also work. I doubt it would be feasible on the family home scale though.

Roo? RO is readily available for the home. My parents have it.

[Dauphin]

If there was an easy household method then there would be companies making a killing off of the poor Bangladeshis by selling them the tools..