Year: 2001
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This study was conducted in Nepal and at MIT as part of the 2000-2001 MIT Nepal Water Project (NWP) and is a continuation of work done by the 1999-2000 MIT Nepal Water Project team.The arsenic project, a subsection of the NWP, was started in 1999 with the goal of documenting the occurrence and extent of arsenic in water sources in Nepal.The goals of this year's project was to begin the process of recommending treatment technologies to remove arsenic from drinking water.An evaluation of three arsenic removal technologies, the Three-Gagri System, the Jerry Can System, and the Arsenic Treatment Unit (ATU), was conducted.In addition, a comparison of two arsenic field tests, EM Quant@ test strips and Arsenic CheckTM, was made.Finally, water source samples from Parasi, Nepal were analyzed to determine their arsenic content.The three arsenic removal technologies were evaluated for their effectiveness and appropriateness.Effectiveness is the measure of a technology's ability to remove arsenic to or below 10 ug/L (micrograms per liter or parts per billion), the guideline set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for arsenic in drinking water.The WHO set this guideline because drinking arsenic contaminated water above this limit can cause adverse health effects.Appropriate technologies are easy to assemble, simple to use in rural settings, and made with locally available, inexpensive materials.The Three-Gagri System was found to be both effective and appropriate, but the clogging problem and the question of whether or not this system promotes microbial growth in the water need to be addressed.The Jerry Can System was found to be ineffective and inappropriate with its current design.The ATU, while very effective, is inappropriate for implementation in Nepal due to its high cost.This study has also concluded that the Arsenic CheckTM test is a safer and more accurate than the EM Quant® test strips.Finally, this study found that groundwater from some water sources in Parasi Nepal are contaminated with arsenic above the WHO guideline.
Author: Jessica J. Hurd
Language: English
Subfield: Environmental Chemistry
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2223538748