What are the options for arsenic treatment?
Before even considering the available options, a municipality might be able to avoid treatment by blending available water sources to reduce the overall arsenic contamination level. Another option is to abandon the current water source and review options for obtaining a completely new source that is arsenic-free. But if operational changes cannot be implemented, arsenic removal treatment options must be evaluated. Current arsenic removal treatment options include ion exchange, activated alumina, reverse osmosis, coagulation/microfiltration and adsorption. When the EPA released the federal regulation it listed coagulation filtration, alumina adsorption, ion exchange and reverse osmosis as the Best Available Technologies (BATs), but since it can take up to ten years to develop a regulation from conception to final ruling, BAT designation can’t always keep up with commercially available technology. For example, iron oxide media, are not listed as BATs, but commercially available products
