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Reston, VA -- Arsenic poisoning affects nearly 100 million people living in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India due to naturally occurring arsenic found in drinking water drawn from underground sources. While the problem may seem complex and difficult to address, the solution is actually easy-to-operate and culturally compatible.
That solution, arsenic removal units (ARUs), was recently named one of five finalists for the 2008 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award (OCEA) presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This year’s award-winning project will be announced at ASCE’s annual Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Awards Gala on Wednesday, April 30, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va.
“Access to safe drinking water is something we often take for granted,” said ASCE President David G. Mongan, P.E., F.ASCE. “This project not only removes arsenic from the groundwater—making it safe for human consumption—but it also provides a safe method of containment for the removed arsenic, one that does not have a long-term adverse ecological impact. That kind of contribution to a community’s well-being is what the OCEA Awards stands for.”
Arsenic is the most toxic naturally occurring contaminant in groundwater. The ARU lowers the arsenic concentration from as high as 500 parts per billion to less than 50 parts per billion, which is the Indian standard of maximum contaminant level of arsenic in drinking water. Arsenic removed from groundwater is converted into a low-volume solid waste and contained in coarse sand filters with minimum arsenic leaching potential.
Currently, more than 150,000 villagers are using arsenic-safe potable water from ARUs attached to ground well pumps, which do not require chemical additions, pH adjustments or electricity. Water is pumped into the unit—the same way water was previously pumped from the well—and then it passes through beads of activated alumina that remove the arsenic.
A villagers’ committee takes over ownership and day-to-day maintenance of the ARU after installation. Each family drawing water from the ARU pays a monthly tariff of 20 Indian rupees, or 50 U.S. cents, for 40 liters of arsenic-free potable water everyday—one person can collect their water in less than three minutes. The findings of the project can be extended to mitigate similar arsenic crisis in other countries including Cambodia, Mexico and Vietnam. The project resulted from a long-standing collaboration between Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Bengal Engineering and Science University in India and was partly funded by Water For People.
Other 2008 OCEA finalists include the Mission Valley East Light Rail Transit project in San Diego; the Pasadena City Hall Seismic Upgrade and Rehabilitation in Pasadena, Calif.; the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, Wash.; and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project in the Washington, D.C-metropolitan area.
Established in 1960 by ASCE, the OCEA program recognizes projects on the basis of their contribution to the well-being of people and communities, resourcefulness in planning and design challenges, and innovations in materials and techniques. Selected from a group of 26 entries, the 2008 finalists are outstanding examples of how civil engineering can contribute to a community’s economic success, improve residents’ quality of life and protect public safety. Previous winners have included the Golden Gate Bridge Seismic Retrofit in San Francisco, the Saluda Dam Remediation project in Columbia, S.C. and the Rion-Antirion Bridge over Greece’s Gulf of Corinth.
For more information on the awards program or for press passes to the OPAL Awards Gala, please contact Joan Buhrman at jbuhrman@asce.org or (703) 295-6406.
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) represents more than 140,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society.
For more information, visit http://www.asce.org/
© Copyright 1998 - 2012 Water and Wastewater.com
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