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

MARTA LITTER; SEBASTIÁN PEREYRA

Estocolmo

Congreso; 6th International Congress Arsenic in the Environment (As2016); 2016

KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden

Ajoint work was performed by a transdisciplinary group involving chemical andsocial scientists about arsenic removal and provision of safe water in twolocalities of the Santiago del Estero province, Argentina, one close to thecapital, 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 northernzone presented serious problems in the quality of water for human consumption,deepened by difficult socioeconomic conditions, whereas, in the Banda zone, thewaters presented neither microbiological contamination nor high arsenic levels.Samples of water were taken in the different localities, their properties weremeasured and, in the samples containing the highest arsenic levels, thecapability of some low-cost materials for arsenic removal were evaluatedenvisaging the design of useful devices for the affected localities. Furtherreplicates of this project can be performed in similar regions.