Goals and Progress
||EPA’s mission is, in part, to achieve and protect clean water systems and to maintain public safety and health. With ongoing development of new scientific data, innovative methods, and cost‑effective technologies, the goals of arsenic treatment technologies research are closely aligned with EPA's goal.
The Arsenic Treatment Technologies Research Program is an integrated, multidisciplinary program that develops and evaluates innovative methods and cost‑effective technologies for arsenic removal. The program investigates ways to control arsenic contamination and helps water utility operators comply with the Arsenic Rule. EPA's risk management research plays a key role by researching drinking water contamination and the accumulation and rerelease of trace contaminants such as arsenic.
The goals of the Arsenic Treatment Technologies Research Program are to:
- Provide interim reports to the Office of Water and water supply utilities on the performance of arsenic treatment technologies and on engineering approaches in order to aid in the implementation of the Arsenic Rule and the protection of human health
- Provide results of full‑scale treatment demonstration projects and evaluations of other approaches for managing arsenic in drinking water for the Office of Water, states, local authorities, and utilities in order to support implementation of the Arsenic Rule
- Develop and evaluate innovative methods and cost‑effective technologies to improve the assessment and control of arsenic contamination
From 2001 to 2005, considerable progress was made toward meeting the major goals of the Arsenic Treatment Technologies Research Program. Accomplishments include the following:
- EPA launched the Arsenic Removal Technology Demonstration Program in 2001 to research and develop more cost‑effective technologies, training, and technical assistance for water systems in violation of the new Arsenic Rule.
- Round 1 arsenic removal demonstrations were completed in 2005, with 12 new systems installed across the United States. Several evaluation reports were published.
- Twenty arsenic treatment technologies
were verified or reported on through
- Eight Phase I studies and three Phase
II studies were funded under EPA's Small
Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program
for emerging technologies.
- As part of the Science
to Achieve Results (STAR) Program's
New Technologies for the Environment,
three projects have been funded for exploratory
research into innovative, cost‑effective,
arsenic treatment technologies.
- EPA’s in‑house
and field research on arsenic is improving
analytical methods, treatment process
optimization, management of residuals
from arsenic treatment, and distribution
system studies. In‑house bench‑scale
jar testing is used to predict arsenic
removal during iron removal. Full‑scale
pilot plant research simulates arsenic/iron
- Numerous publications describing research findings from laboratory and field studies have been made available to the public.