Arsenic contamination in groundwater system of Viterbo area (Central Italy)

• Main Authors: Maurizio Barbieri, Angela Nigro, Giuseppe Sappa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Eleven Senses 2014-09-01
• Series: Senses and Sciences
• Subjects: Arsenic contamination; groundwater; pH-Eh diagram
• Online Access: http://www.sensesandsciences.com/#!arsenic-contamination-in-groundwater-sys/c6e8

In the last years the presence of arsenic in groundwater became an urgent environmental issue. The As maximum concentration in drinking water has been changed from 50 µg/l to 10 µg/l, mainly due the effect observed on populations exposed to drinking water rich in arsenic. Since many springs and wells of the Cimino-Vicano area exceeds the limits provided by Council Directive 98/83/EC, arsenic has become the most urgent issue of local governments bodies. The aim of this paper is to investigate about the presence of this element in groundwater and to contribute understanding of the behaviour of this in aquatic environment. In this project have been analyzed 44 waters samples, with temperatures ranging from 15° C to 62° C, and they have been compared with data obtained from paper of Sappa et al., 2014 [1], relative to water supply network. The results show that the predominant specie of As in agricultural and thermal water in reducing conditions is arsenite As (III) while the predominant specie present in drinking water in oxidant conditions is arsenate As (V).