About 40-70 million people in Bangladesh drink groundwater contaminated with arsenic. Although
the WHO’s recommended maximum limit for
arsenic in drinking water is 10 ppb, the arsenic
levels in Bangladesh, in some cases, exceed 1000 ppb. Twenty million people in Bangladesh are already showing signs of arsenic poisoning,
in what is rightly called the largest case of mass poisoning in history. Arsenic poisoning will cause about 10% of future adult deaths in Bangladesh
(population ~140 million) unless something is done.

Although there are numerous proposed solutions to this devastating problem, many of them are expensive and/or ineffective at decreasing arsenic in drinking water to acceptable levels.  Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs have developed a method to remove arsenic from drinking water using bottom ash, a widely available waste material from coal-fired power plants. This method called Arsenic Removal Using Bottom Ash (ARUBA) coats ash with ferric hydroxide, which binds to arsenic. The arsenic can then be removed from the water through filtration.

The goal of the Berkeley Arsenic Alleviation Group is to design a device and/or process that utilizes ARUBA to effectively remove arsenic from drinking water. Alongside the scientific and engineering development, the team is developing a business model for system implementation. This solution will take into account economic costs/benefits, social acceptability, affordability, and sustainability. In addition, we are now exploring the socieoceonomic and public health implications of arsenic remediation using ARUBA.

Click here for the latest project news and Bangladesh trip reports.

This project is funded by the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance, the UC Berkeley Blum Center, and the UC Berkeley Bears Breaking Boundaries Contest.