To Improve Drinking Water Quality, Assam Develops Low-Cost Solution To Reduce Arsenic Poisoning 

Researchers at Tezpur University in Assam have developed Arsiron Nilogon (arsiron for arsenic and iron; nilogon is the Assamese equivalent for removal), a simple, low-cost technology that aims to shield people from the scourge of arsenic, reports The Hindustan Times.

This comes as a big relief for residents of Assam's Arsenic-hit Mazagaon village along the northern banks of the Brahmaputra, where many of them had patchy skin hyper-pigmentation, symptoms of arsenic poisoning.

Mazagaon village had the highest arsenic concentration in groundwater in Assam at 990 parts per billion (ppb) in a tube well, higher than the 50 ppb cap set by the Indian government.

The technology is proved to remove arsenic and iron from contaminated water while costing half a rupee (Re. 0.5) per 100 litres.

The purifier consists of two 200-litre or 500-litre plastic drums with taps, roosted on a bamboo stand and arranged like a podium stand. The top drum is where the chemical reaction takes place, while a sand-gravel bed in the bottom tank removes ferric oxide from the water.

The chemical process involves a two-stage process based on oxidation-coagulation-adsorption at optimised pH. It does not require electricity and could be constructed at home, says Robin Dutta, a professor at Tezpur University, and the inventor of the technology.

It is reported to be cheaper and safer than nano-technology-based purifiers as nano-based purifiers are said to be potentially carcinogenic.

North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management (NERIWLM) did the third-party technical evaluation of Arsiron Nilogon and found the filter to be capable of bringing down arsenic below the WHO’s recommended levels.