REMOVAL OF LEAD

What is Lead?
Lead is a naturally occurring bluish-gray
metal found in small amounts on the
earths outer layer.
Lead can be found in all parts of our
environment.

How does lead get into the

water?
Lead rarely occurs naturally in water; it
usually gets into the water from the delivery
system.
Lead pipes are the main contributor to high
lead levels in tap water.

How to remove lead from

water?

Reverse Osmosis
is a process in which dissolved inorganic
solids (such as salts) are removed from a
solution (such as water).

Diagram of a Reverse Osmosis

System with Basic Components:

REMOVAL OF
ARSENIC

ARSENIC

Can cause cancer, high blood pressure,

heart disease and diabetes
Arsenic is found in air and nearly
all foods and drinks, but is usually only found
in small amounts

ARSENIC
is a chemical element with symbol As and atomic
number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in
combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure
elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has
various allotropes, but only the gray form is important to
industry.

ARSENIC
appears in three allotropic forms: yellow, black and grey
stable form is a silver-gray, brittle crystalline solid
tarnishes rapidly in air, and at high temperatures burns
(Arsenic is naturally fairly mobile, but the negative site to it
is that arsenic pollution becomes a wider issue because it
easily spreads. Arsenic cannot be mobilized easily when it
is immobile. Due to human activities, mainly through
mining and melting)
used in making special types of glass, as a wood
preservative

WHERE DOES ARSENIC COME FROM?

Widely distributed in the Earths crust
In small quantities in rock, soil, water and air (Low
levels of arsenic are found in soil, water and air. The
element is taken up by plants as they grow this
means arsenic makes its way into our food)
Volcanic activity, rock & mineral erosion, & forest fire
release ARSENIC
1/3 comes from natural sources

WHERE DOES ARSENIC COME FROM?

(MAN MADE):
Anthropogenic or Man Made:

Arsenic is used industrially as an alloying agent, as well as in the processing of

glass, pigments, textiles, paper, metal adhesives, wood preservatives and
ammunition. Arsenic is also used in the hide tanning process and, to a limited
extent, in pesticides, feed additives and pharmaceuticals.
Drilling Wells
Mineral Extraction
Processing Wastes
Pesticides
As in water depend on level of activity and distance from pollution sources

INORGANIC ARSENIC
Used to preserve wood
Inorganic forms are toxic
Found in rocks and soil or dissolved in water. This is
the more toxic form.
ORGANIC ARSENIC
As in animals and plants combines with carbon and
hydrogen to form organic arsenic compounds
Organic arsenic compounds are used as pesticides,
primarily on cotton plants
Mainly found in plant and animal tissues.

How to remove
arsenic
(one bucket system)
YouTube

Mercury(Hg)
Mercury is a chemical element with symbol (Hg) and atomic
number 80.It is commonly known as quicksilver, the only metallic
element that is liquid at standard conditions for temperature and
pressure.

MERCURY IN WATER
AND DRINKING
WATER

Elemental mercury
Elemental mercury is typically released from industrial processes,
household, commercial and medical products containing
mercury, sewage discharged and sediment. Elemental mercury
vapor may cause nervous system damage when exposed at
high concentrations.

Inorganic mercury
Inorganic mercury is found in batteries and used in the chemical
industry and it is produced from elemental mercury through the
process of oxidation. Inorganic mercury is the most common form
that is present in drinking water but isnt considered to be very
harmful to human health, in terms of the level found in drinking
water. However, kidney damage may result from exposure to
inorganic mercury through other sources.

Organic mercury
Organic mercury (primarily methyl mercury) is produced by
specific bacterial organisms in surface waters that convert
inorganic mercury into organic mercury, which is the form of
mercury that poses a significant threat to human health. Methyl
mercury is ingested typically by fish and bio accumulates both in
the tissues of fish and the humans that eat these fish. Large
predatory fish can contain as much as 100,000 times more methyl
mercury than the surrounding water medium.

 This form is rarely present in drinking water but is a very common

contaminant in the tissues of fish and causes damage to the
nervous system as well as teratogenesis. Both inorganic and
organic mercury are considered to have a more detrimental
effect on children due to the fact that both forms are more easily
absorbed into their system.

 In 1974, the EPA established the Safe Drinking Water Act that set
specific guidelines on contaminants that are commonly found in
drinking water. However, it was not until 1992 that mercury, in
particular, became regulated. Both the Maximum Contaminant
Level Goal and the Maximum Contaminant Level were set at 2
parts per billion because current technology allows public water
suppliers to detect and remove mercury levels that low.

 The monitoring of mercury levels must take place every three

months if the level is higher than the set guideline and specific
measures must be taken to reduce these levels if they are
exceeded persistently. Approved methods of removing mercury
from the drinking water supply are the following:
Coagulation/Filtration, Granular Activated Carbon, Lime
softening and Reverse osmosis.

REMOVAL OF MERCURY

Four process in removing mercury in

water
1. Coagulation/Filtration

2. Granular activated carbon

3. Lime Softening
4. Reverse Osmosis

Coagulation/Filtration
It is a common treatment which uses Aluminum Sulfate that
reacts with mercury to form a solid which can precipitate out of
the water. The sludge must be then disposed of in a hazardous
waste landfill. This process is beneficial because it costs very little
and reliable.

Granular activated carbon

Uses porous carbon media. This media is a heavy charcoal
material. As the water passes through, the dissolved
contaminants are absorbed and held on the solid surface. This
process has its limitations because the effectiveness depends on
the concentration of mercury in water.

Lime Softening
Uses excess Calcium Hydroxide to raise the pH level and then
the heavy metal precipitates out as Mercury Hydroxide. A
benefit of this method is lower costs and proven reliability.

Reverse Osmosis
In reverse osmosis, water is pushed through a semi permeable
membrane. A common membrane material polyamide film. This
produces high quality water but fairly expensive.