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Design for Development BEST Home | Project Info | Presentations | Publications | People | Links Project Abstract: Removing arsenic from drinking water in Bangladesh About 30 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. About 20 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 (pop ~130 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, led by Dr. Ashok Gadgil, 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 engineering development, the team is developing a business model for system implementation. This solution will take into account economic costs/benefits, compatibility, affordability, and sustainability, as well as considering the social acceptability of the proposed solution. This project is funded by the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance, the UC Berkeley Blum Center - Safe Water and Sanitation Initiative, and the UC Berkeley Bears Breaking Boundaries Contest. For more information visit the Berkeley Arsenic Alleviation Group |