Spotlight on Gadgil Lab Arsenic Removal Effort

A recent segment on Al Jazeera English featured field research on arsenic removal initiated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Led by Ashok Gadgil, a physicist and senior faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area, scientists and engineers are testing a filtration system in rural California that can remove dangerous levels of arsenic from groundwater at low cost. The project began in 2005 with funding from Berkeley Lab’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program.

Water contamination from naturally occurring arsenic is an issue worldwide. In the U.S. alone, the Al Jazeera report noted, an estimated 2.1 million people draw their water from wells with levels of arsenic exceeding levels considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Tens of millions of people in countries such as India and Bangladesh contend with exposure to high levels of arsenic, which is linked to internal cancers and cardiovascular disease, among other serious health problems.
“This promises to be one of the lowest, if not the lowest, cost ways to reliably remove arsenic from groundwater at a price that local communities can afford,” Gadgil said.

Watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xipwECQGABE