Arsenic Removal

Arsenic enters drinking water supplies from natural deposits in the earth or from agricultural and industrial practices. Through rains, melting snow, etc., surface arsenic-related pollutants enter the groundwater systems gradually. Arsenic doesn’t affect the taste or smell of drinking water enough to call attention to such contamination but is potentially hazardous at levels or concentrations that do not impart noticeable taste, odor, or appearance of the water.

Arsenic and phosphate easily substitute for one another chemically, and commercial grade phosphate can have some arsenic in it. Arsenic is not easily dissolved in water, and if found in a water supply, quite often comes from mining or metallurgical operations or from runoff from agricultural areas where materials containing arsenic were used as industrial poisons.