Arsenic Distribution Assessment in a Residential Area Polluted with Mining Residues.

Mining is a major source for metals and metalloids pollution, which could pose a risk for human health. In San Guillermo, Chihuahua, Mexico mining wastes are found adjacent to a residential area. A soil-surface sampling was performed, collecting 88 samples for arsenic determination by atomic absorption. Arsenic concentration data set was interpolated using the ArcGis models: inverse distance weighting (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), and radial basis function (RBF). For method validation purposes, a set of the data was selected and two tests were performed (P1 and P2). In P1 the models were processed without the validation data; in P2 the validation data were removed one by one, models were processed every time that a data point was removed. An arsenic concentration range of 22.7 to 2190 mg/kg was reported. The 39% of data set was classified as contaminated soil and 61% as industrial land use. In P1 the method of interpolation with the lowest RMSE was RBF (0.80), the highest coefficient of E was RBF (46.25), and the highest Ceff value was with RBF (0.48). In P2 the method with the lowest RMSE was OK (0.76), the highest E value was 50.65 with OK, and the Ceff reported the highest value with OK (0.52). The high arsenic contamination in soil of the site indicates an abundant dispersion of this metalloid. Furthermore, the difference between the models was not very wide. The incorporation of more parameters would be of interest to observe the behavior of interpolation methods.

Conductometric measurement of the changes in humic substances caused by ozone oxidation.

Humic substances (HS), a broad category of organic compounds and a major constituent of soil, are responsible for serious problems during water purification processes. In particular, HS react with chlorine during disinfection processes to produce a variety of organochlorine compounds such as trihalomethanes (THMs), which are potentially carcinogenic to humans. The use of ozone as a disinfection method represents a potential solution to this problem; however, HS that are not completely oxidized may form by-products more reactive than the original molecules. The structural changes of HS during oxidation with ozone were evaluated through a replicated 2(2) design, where concentrations of 5 and 30 mg/L of two commercial HS (Aldrich and Fluka) were ozonized over different time intervals (0, 10, and 20 min). The ozone-treated HS were titrated with acid and base solutions, and the shifts of the slopes were then analyzed and finally related to the ionic alterations of the HS. The Aldrich HS (AHS) showed only protonated functional groups; the Fluka HS (FHS) showed only ionized groups; and in both cases, the amount of functional groups increased with increasing ozonation. For AHS and FHA, respectively, the maximum ozone exposure time (20 min) and the highest concentration of HS (30 mg/L) produced the greatest reductions in total organic carbon (TOC) (39 and 34 %), UV254 (50 and 60.8 %), and color (16.4 and 19.6 %). As for aromaticity, AHS showed removals of 39.6 % (from a starting concentration of 5 mg/L) and 17.2 % (from a starting concentration of 30 mg/L). FHS showed the opposite effect, with removals of 33.3 % (starting at 5 mg/L) and 40.1 % (starting at 30 mg/L). In this study, the structural changes of HS submitted to ozonation were inferred in a relatively quick and easy way by using a conductometric titration, thus demonstrating the applicability of the technique.