Evaluation of safe drinking water access for dispersed rural populations in the Santiago del Estero province, Argentina ? A challenge for arsenic removal

M.I. LITTER; S. PEREYRA

Proceedings of the 6th International Congress On Arsenic in the Environment, Estocolmo, Suecia

CRC Press

Año: 2016; p. 642 - 643

A joint work was performed by a transdisciplinary group involving chemical and social scientists about arsenic removal and provision of safe water in two localities of the Santiago del Estero province, Argentina, one close to the capital, in the Banda Department and another one in the north, in the Copo Department. A diagnosis about access, uses and water quality indicated that the northern zone presented serious problems in the quality of water for human consumption, deepened by difficult socioeconomic conditions, whereas, in the Banda zone, the waters presented neither microbiological contamination nor high arsenic levels. Samples of water were taken in the different localities, their properties were measured and, in the samples containing the highest arsenic levels, the capability of some low-cost materials for arsenic removal were evaluated envisaging the design of useful devices for the affected localities. Further replicates of this project can be performed in similar regions.