Emerging options for solving the arsenic problems of rural and periurban areas in Latin America

Emerging, low-cost technologies to mitigate the problem of arsenic in drinking water resources of Latin America, suitable for rural and periurban areas lacking centralized water supplies have been evaluated. The technologies use generally simple and low-cost equipment that can easily be handled and maintained by the local population. Experiences comprise coagulation/filtration with iron and aluminum salts, scaled-down for small community- and household-scale-applications, adsorption techniques using low-cost arsenic sorbents, such as geological materials (clays, laterites, soils, limestones), natural organic-based sorbents (natural biomass), and synthetic materials, use of constructed wetlands with native perennial plants for arsenic rhizofiltration, capacitive deionization, zerovalent iron especially using nanoparticles and solar technologies including titanium dioxide-heterogeneous photocatalysis