Performance of arsenic and iron removal plants in Bangladesh

Arsenic in groundwater above 0.05 mg/L was found in 61 out of the total of 64 districts, and 433 out of the total of the 496 thanas in Bangladesh. But this dimension of the arsenic occurrence problem in groundwater in Bangladesh is yet to be fully identified. Water in around 65% areas of Bangladesh contain iron in excess of 2 mg/L, and arsenic has been found to co-exist with iron in many situations. Thus arsenic can be removed by both co-precipitation and adsorption onto the precipitated Fe(OH)3 in iron removal plants. This study evaluates the performance of 60 arsenic and iron removal plants (AIRPs) presently operating in different geo-hydrological conditions of Bangladesh.