Arsenic content in the Jie River and its release behaviour from river sediments

Abstract

Water and sediment samples of Jie River, China were collected and analyzed. The results showed that the average arsenic volume of water sample was 0.42 mg L-1 present in the Jie River. Among the riverway, the arsenic volume and pH kept rising with the flow. Standard leaching experiments showed the leachability of the sediments was lower than the hazardous materials permitted threshold volume but the leaching liquid exceeded the environmental quality standard for surface water which means the sediments might be a source to leach arsenic into aqueous system. In order to figure out the actual situation, simulated leaching experiments were performed. The results revealed that the sediments leaching could aggravate the water quality which was mostly influenced by the agitation and temperature. Solidification procedure was tested and suggested that with clean sand paved on the sediment, the amount of leaching arsenic will decrease 77.89%. Thus, it is of great help to apply cleaned sediments to remediate the contaminated sediments to reduce the leaching of arsenic into the aqueous system.