Workshop Description

Recent research has identified a number of potential and current links between environmental arsenic releases and the management of operational and abandoned landfills. Many landfills will receive an increasing arsenic load due to the disposal of arsenic-bearing solid residuals (ABSR) from drinking water treatment processes and chromated-copper-arsenate (CCA) treated timber from construction demolition. Simultaneously, there is a growing body of research indicating that arsenic will be released over time from these wastes under municipal solid waste landfill conditions. In addition, arsenic is a common constituent of many natural iron-bearing soils and sediments or may accumulate in them. Recent research also indicates that if these soils are impacted by high organic, landfill leachate plumes, they may release the arsenic into the surrounding groundwater.

The objectives of the workshop were to disseminate the latest findings regarding the associations between arsenic releases and landfill management, including potential human health impacts, and to provide a forum for the discussion of the findings and appropriate responses to them. It was an express purpose of the conference to be a two-way communication conduit in which knowledge and experience regarding the arsenic-landfills relationship can be exchanged. This included presentation of new research and operational concepts as well as discussion of priorities, knowledge gaps and uncertainties identified by resource managers and others directly impacted by these issues. The conference will cover information relevant to private citizens; municipal and regional authorities; government officials; water, wastewater and solid waste utility personnel; and businesses involved with arsenic remediation technologies.

Prior to the Workshop, Mike Sills (NH DES), John Peckenham (University of Maine) and Nancy Serrell (Dartmouth College) collaborated to graphically represent the

Life Cycle of Arsenic in Water Treatment Processes  (6MB) Bill Scavone (Kestrel Illustrations) designed the image and 2 large format posters were on display at the Workshop. The Workshop discussions were often related to various parts of this cycle.

The final report from this Workshop will be posted here as soon as it becomes available.

Main Sponsor

• NIEHS Superfund Basic Research Program

Participant list

• Workshop Participant List  (83KB)

Presentations

• Arsenic as a Human Health Hazard: Highlights of Recent Epidemiologic Findings  (1MB) (Joseph Graziano, Columbia University)
• Arsenic as a human health hazard: mechanisms of action  (10MB) (Joshua W. Hamilton, Dartmouth College)
• (Follow-up questions from Joseph Graziano and Joshua W. Hamilton)  (45KB)
• Arsenic Sources and Assessment  (178KB) (S. Al-Abed & G. Jegadeesan, USEPA-ORD/PTS, Inc.)
• Arsenic In NH  (370KB) (Cynthia M. Klevens, NH Department of Environmental Services)
• Regulatory Management and Impacts on Existing Waste Disposal Facilities  (440KB) (Michael A. Sills, NH Department of Environmental Services)
• Estimating the Production of Arsenic-Bearing Residuals (ABR) From Maine’s Drinking Water  (1MB) (John M. Peckenham, University of Maine)
• Issues with Arsenic Containing Wastes in Modern Landfills  (5MB) (Timothy G. Townsend, University of Florida)
• New Arsenic Burdens in Landfills: Water Treatment Residuals  (660KB) (Wendell Ela, University of Arizona)
• Old Landfills and Waste Sites  (1MB) (Rudi Hon, Boston College)
• Arsenic in Ground Water at Waste Sites  (1MB) (Robert Ford, U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development)
• Geochemical Perspectives Linking Arsenic Fate and Retention to Iron and Sulfur Cycling  (10MB) (Benjamin C. Bostick, Dartmouth College)
• Industri-Plex Superfund Site: Understanding and Considering Fate & Transport Mechanisms towards Remedy Selection  (702KB) (Joseph LeMay, EPA Region 1)
• A Survey of Firms Providing Arsenic Treatment for Private Well Owners in New Hampshire  (174KB) (Nancy Serrell, Dartmouth College)
• What we have learned from post-closure groundwater monitoring at inactive landfills in NY State  (753KB) (Steven Parisio, NYSDEC)
• Arsenic in the Landfill Environment: Untested Ideas and Open Questions  (4MB) (Bill Brandon, EPA Region 1)
• Older landfills and Arsenic: can triage assessments help focus limited resources?  (3MB) (Steven Chillrud, Columbia University)
• Arsenic and Landfills: Translating the science  (1MB) (Nancy Serrell, Dartmouth College)

Contacts

Please contact Dr. Wendell Ela or Larry Whitson if you have any questions regarding this Workshop:

Wendell Ela
University of Arizona

Tel (520) 626-9323
wela@engr.arizona.edu

Previous Workshops

Previous Workshops in this series were held in February 2005 and February 2006. Please see additional information on these Workshops below.

Final Report from February 06 Arsenic Workshop

• Final Report on "Disposal of Arsenic-Bearing Water Treatment Residuals"  (187KB)

Presentations from February 06 Arsenic Workshop

• Public Health Research and Environmental Programs Collaboration  (508KB) (Beth Anderson, NIEHS)
• Disposal of Arsenic-Bearing Water Treatment Residuals: Assessing the Potential for Environmental Contamination  (423KB) (Wendell Ela, University of Arizona)
• Estimating Leaching Behavior of Arsenic-Bearing Solid Residuals  (974KB) (Wendell Ela, University of Arizona)
• Case Studies of Arsenic Mobilization Related to Landfills and Superfund Sites  (3MB) (Steven Chillrud, Columbia University)
• Role of Microorganisms in the Role of Microorganisms in the Speciation and Mobility of Arsenic  (3MB) (Jim Field, University of Arizona)
• Speciation, Fate, and Cycling of Arsenic in Subsurface Environments  (2MB) (Peggy O'day, UC-Merced)
• Solid Waste Landfills as a Repository for ABR  (12MB) (Tim Townsend, University of Florida)
• Landfilling of Drinking Water ABRs  (43KB) (Greg Helms, EPA OSW)
• ABR: Types, Volumes, Geographical Distribution and Disposal  (777KB) (Tom Sorg, EPA ORD)
• A Risk Assessment of Landfill Disposal of WTP-Generated ABRs Using the Integrated Multimedia Modeling System 3MRA 1.x  (954KB) (Justin Babendreier, EPA ORD)

Final Report from February 05 Arsenic Workshop

• Final Report from Workshop on Assessment and Disposal of Arsenic-bearing Solid Residuals  (311KB) (from EPA/NIEHS SBRP Workshop in Feb/March 2005)

Workshop Presentations

• Dr. Ela's (U of Arizona) presentation to the October 11, 2004 meeting in DC  (186KB) (background)
• Dr. Ela's (U of Arizona) introductory presentation to the February 28 - March 1 workshop in DC  (862KB) (background)
• Arsenic Leaching from Landfilled Adsorbent Media  (129KB) (Erica Blumenschein, student, U of Arizona)
• RCRA Background/TCLP   (39KB) (Greg Helms, EPA OSW)
• Integrated Evaluation of Leaching Processes for Environmental Assessment   (1MB) (David Kosson, Vanderbilt University)
• Arsenic Rule Background  (236KB) (Jeff Kempic, EPA OW)
• Cost-effective Alternatives to Landfill Disposal  (1MB) (Eduardo Saez, University of Arizona)

Other Background Material

• TCLP Underestimates Leaching of Arsenic from Solid Residuals Under Landfill Conditions  (204KB) Environmental Science and Technology, 2004)
• U.S. EPA Workshop on Managing Arsenic Risks to the Environment: Characterization of Waste, Chemistry, and Treatment and Disposal 
  (Proceedings and Summary Report, October 2003
• Arsenic Treatment Technologies for Soil, Waste and Water  (2MB) (EPA Technology Innovation Office)
• Biogeochemical Controls on Arsenic Occurrence and Mobility in Water Supplies  (2MB) (Environmental Chemistry of Arsenic, Marcel-Dekker, Inc., 2002)
• An Integrated Framework for Evaluating Leaching in Waste Management and Utilization of Secondary Materials  (781KB) (Environmental Engineering Science, 2002)
• The Ecology of Arsenic  (264KB) (Science, 2003)
• Anaerobic Microbial Mobilization and Biotransformation of Arsenate Adsorbed onto Activated Alumina  (282KB) (Water Research, 2005)
• Stabilization of Arsenic-bearing Iron Hydroxide Solid Wastes in Polymeric Matrices  (738KB) (preprint, 2005)