School of Engineering and Built Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland G4 0BA, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012 Dec 20;10(1):18-46. doi: 10.3390/ijerph10010018.
Arsenic (As) causes health concerns due to its significant toxicity and worldwide presence in drinking water and groundwater. The major sources of As pollution may be natural process such as dissolution of As-containing minerals and anthropogenic activities such as percolation of water from mines, etc. The maximum contaminant level for total As in potable water has been established as 10 µg/L. Among the countries facing As contamination problems, Bangladesh is the most affected. Up to 77 million people in Bangladesh have been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic from drinking water. Therefore, it has become an urgent need to provide As-free drinking water in rural households throughout Bangladesh. This paper provides a comprehensive overview on the recent data on arsenic contamination status, its sources and reasons of mobilization and the exposure pathways in Bangladesh. Very little literature has focused on the removal of As from groundwaters in developing countries and thus this paper aims to review the As removal technologies and be a useful resource for researchers or policy makers to help identify and investigate useful treatment options. While a number of technological developments in arsenic removal have taken place, we must consider variations in sources and quality characteristics of As polluted water and differences in the socio-economic and literacy conditions of people, and then aim at improving effectiveness in arsenic removal, reducing the cost of the system, making the technology user friendly, overcoming maintenance problems and resolving sludge management issues.
砷（As）因其毒性大、在饮用水和地下水中广泛存在而引起健康关注。砷污染的主要来源可能是自然过程，如含砷矿物的溶解，以及人为活动，如矿水的渗透等。饮用水中总砷的最大污染物水平已被定为 10μg/L。在面临砷污染问题的国家中，孟加拉国受影响最大。多达 7700 万孟加拉国人因饮用水中的砷而接触到有毒水平。因此，为孟加拉国农村家庭提供无砷饮用水已成为当务之急。本文全面概述了孟加拉国砷污染状况、来源、迁移原因以及暴露途径的最新数据。很少有文献关注发展中国家地下水除砷问题，因此本文旨在回顾砷去除技术，并为研究人员或决策者提供有用的资源，以帮助确定和调查有用的处理方案。虽然在去除砷方面已经取得了许多技术发展，但我们必须考虑到砷污染水的来源和质量特征的变化，以及人们的社会经济和文化条件的差异，然后旨在提高砷去除的效果，降低系统成本，使技术易于使用，克服维护问题，并解决污泥管理问题。
