Approximating the Fate of Arsenic from Drinking Water Supplies in Maine

Presentation (pdf document)

John M. Peckenham, Senator George J. Mitchell Center, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 207/581-3244, jpeck@maine.edu

Gail Lipfert, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, gail_lipfert@apollo.umenfa.maine.edu

The maximum concentration limit for arsenic in drinking water is 0.01 mg/L. In Maine, more than 30% of public and private drinking water supply wells exceed this limit. Arsenic in drinking water can be transferred from the ground to three new locations: (1) septic systems; (2) municipal water treatment facilities; (3) and solid waste systems. Septic systems may accumulate arsenic in solids or allow arsenic in solution to recharge aquifers. Arsenic in treatment works may accumulate in solids that end up as solid waste, or land applied as biosolids. Arsenic in solid wastes may be deposited directly into lined or unlined landfills, and leachate from landfills may be collected, or leak to groundwater. Solid wastes may be incinerated with losses to the atmosphere along with the generation of arsenic containing ash (solid waste). A newly developed model of how arsenic moves through the landscape will be presented. The estimate mass-flux of arsenic moving from groundwater to these others locations in Maine is 5 kg per day.