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Arsenic-Free Water in Rural AsiaTotal cost to complete: $450,000 Donations to date: $222,400 Remaining funds needed: $227,600 49.42% funded Date needed by: July 31, 2009  Arsenic-Free Water in Rural Asia: Berkeley, CAProblem Statement:
Arsenic in drinking water is a major public health problem threatening the lives of over 140 million people worldwide (Beck, 2007; Kahn, 2007), leading to what has been aptly called "the largest mass poisoning of a population in history"(Smith et al., 2000). Primary drinking water supplies in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, China, Hungary, Cambodia, Vietnam, West Bengal (India), Bangladesh, and areas of the United States are contaminated with up to 1000-4000 ppb of arsenic due to the underlying arsenic-rich geological strata, which exceed the World Health Organization standards maximum permissible exposure of 10 ppb by hundreds of times. Prolonged exposure to high levels of arsenic can lead to sores, tumors, disfiguration, chronic pain, multi-system organ failure, and ultimately death. Poor nutrition, common in the midst of poverty, is known to exacerbate its toxic effects, especially in children. Increased health costs, loss of productivity and income, and social exclusion can be perilous to a family at subsistence-level living. For example, in India, the welfare costs of exposure to arsenic in drinking water are estimated to be US $248 per household per year– a crippling burden on yearly income for those making US $1-2 per day. Most arsenic removal technologies have not yet successfully been implemented in the field because of prohibitively high costs, maintenance challenges, or scalability challenges.
Technology:
We are developing a low-cost electrochemical system to remove arsenic from contaminated groundwater. Our method uses electricity to continuously dissolve iron in water. The arsenic binds to the resulting rust and can then be filtered or settled out. One advantage of electrochemical arsenic remediation is that the adsorbent is manufactured at the time of use, eliminating the need for a costly supply chain. The system is also scalable with only 2 required inputs: electricity and iron. Employing a small amount of electricity leads to a large advantage in efficiency, lowering the cost and producing far less waste than chemical adsorbents. This method produces very little waste at ~120mg per person per day and is affordable at less than $0.01 per person per day, including the cost of electricity from solar panels. In addition, the electrodes are self-cleaning if the current is alternated, reducing maintenance and eliminating the need to handle strong alkalies and corrosive acids for regeneration (which is required of activated alumina and other adsorbents).
Dissemination Strategy:
We hope to create a sustainable community-based business model with full cost recovery similar to WaterHealth International’s UV WaterWorks community safe water centers in India (http://www.waterhealth.com), which encourages local participation and builds in incentives to maintain the system.
Project mission:We aim to provide affordable access to clean water in rural communities with arsenic-contaminated primary water sources. Ultimately, we hope to improve the health and livelihood of millions worldwide that are currently exposed to arsenic-contamination. Potential impact:We hope to relieve arsenicosis symptoms that can lead to severe stress in addition to physical pain. Many arsenicosis sufferers have been ostracized at the household or village level due to lesions on their hands and feet (WHO, 2000). These lesions are known to disappear within several years of drinking arsenic-free water (Chowdhury et al., 2000). We wish to reduce tensions between socioeconomic classes that increase when no arsenic-free source is nearby, as families must negotiate for safe water options. Time spent in travel to distant arsenic-free tubewells has an opportunity cost, especially for women and girls who fetch almost all of the water. If water from the safe water center is delivered door-to-door at an affordable price, as it is for WaterHealth, time spent collecting safe-water could be reduced to almost nothing. Time savings may also be realized from caring for fewer sick family members and avoiding maintenance of laborious point-of-use treatment systems. Required resources:
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