More than 3,000 community water suppliers will
have to treat for arsenic (As) removal as the US
Environmental Protection Agency's new maximum
contaminant level (MCL) requirements come into
effect. The authors conducted this study to develop a
method for minimizing the waste produced by As ion
exchange during water treatment for As removal. They
found that ion exchange with direct brine reuse is a more
efficient and cost-effective process for removing As from
groundwater than more commonly used processes. Salt
consumption for regeneration is cut by 50%, and spent
brine can be reused 10-15 times or more. This process
will give communities a more cost-effective alternative
for meeting new MCL requirements. Includes 19 references, tables, figures.