Arsenic and Your Water
Arsenic and Your Water | South Florida Water Orlando, Tampa & Sarasota, FL
Arsenic (As) is not easily dissolved in water, therefore, if it is found in a water supply, it usually comes from mining or metallurgical operations or from runoff from agricultural areas where materials containing arsenic were used as industrial poisons. Arsenic and phosphate easily substitute for one another chemically; therefore, commercial grade phosphate can have some arsenic in it. Arsenic is highly toxic and has been classified by the US EPA as a carcinogen. The current MCL for arsenic is 0.05 mg/l, which was derived from toxicity considerations rather than carcinogenicity.
Treatment: If in an inorganic form, arsenic can be removed or reduced by conventional water treatment processes. There are five ways to remove inorganic contaminants; reverse osmosis, activated alumina, ion exchange, activated carbon, and distillation. Filtration through activated carbon will reduce the amount of arsenic in drinking water from 40 – 70%. Anion exchange can reduce it by 90 – 100%. Reverse Osmosis has a 90% removal rate, and Distillation will remove 98%. If the arsenic is present in organic form, it can be removed by oxidation of the organic material and subsequent coagulation.
Because clean water is so important, call the experts in water filtration. The South Florida Water team sells, installs and services the best quality water softeners, water conditioners, salt free conditioners, well water treatment system, reverse osmosis and iron sulfur systems throughout Tampa FL, Orlando FL, Sarasota FL and all the communities in between to include: Land O Lakes FL, Wesley Chapel FL, Zephyrhills FL, Odessa FL, Lutz FL, Tarpon Springs FL, New Port Richey FL, Spring Hill FL, San Antonio, FL, Inverness, FL, Leesburg, FL, Brooksville FL, Winter Garden FL, Ocala FL, Plant City FL, Dade City FL, Wimauma FL, Ruskin FL, Riverview FL, Valrico FL, Lithia FL, Parrish FL, Apollo Beach FL, Lakeland FL, Bradenton FL, Kissimmee FL, Clermont FL, Sun City Center FL, Windermere FL, Sanford FL, Lake Nona FL, Longwood FL, Winter Springs FL, Apopka FL, St. Cloud FL and more.