API PUBL 4761-2011

$9.10

API Groundwater Arsenic Manual

Published By	Publication Date	Number of Pages
API	2011	102

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Category: API

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Description

In January, 2006 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) lowered the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic from 0.050 mg/L to 0.010 mg/L due to concerns about the long-term, chronic health effects of low concentrations of arsenic in drinking water. This five-fold lowering of the MCL has subsequently heightened public and regulatory awareness and concern with arsenic. For some, there is a concern that natural arsenic concentrations can exceed the new MCL due to the existing geology in certain areas of the country. For others, including the regulatory community, their concern stems from the fact that naturally-occurring arsenic may be mobilized into shallow groundwater by inputs of biodegradable organic carbon. These inputs may include petroleum hydrocarbon impacts.

Given these heightened concerns, it is important to understand the mobilization, transport and attenuation mechanisms of naturally-occurring arsenic at hydrocarbon impacted sites. This document was developed to facilitate this understanding when the arsenic is present at or above concentrations of concern. It was developed by ERM, Inc. in collaboration with the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Petroleum Environmental Research Forum (PERF).

While this document is not intended to cover arsenic geochemistry or arsenic impacts on non-petroleum sites, it is useful to review some basic facts about arsenic in the environment to provide a context for discussing arsenic at petroleum impacted sites. This document will discuss the occurrence of arsenic in the subsurface and review the major biogeochemical factors affecting arsenic mobility and attenuation in groundwater at petroleum impacted sites. Assessment and site characterization strategies and techniques for the development of site-specific conceptual models are also reviewed.

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