Status and management of arsenic pollution in groundwater: A comprehensive appraisal of recent global scenario, human health impacts, sustainable field-scale treatment technologies

The arsenic occurrence in groundwater and the associated health impacts has been a global issue for the last few decades. Chronic exposure to arsenic can cause skin lesions, obstructive pulmonary disease, black-foot disease, etc., and even lead to cancer in various body organs. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the sources, occurrence, exposure routes, health effects of arsenic, and its removal techniques. The recent research on arsenic removal has been highlighted with a special emphasis on field-scale treatment processes. The global arsenic mapping revealed that regional geological formation in different river basins influences the scattered arsenic distribution worldwide. The treatment methods are extensively explored in research with the development of numerous techniques, such as adsorption, ion-exchange, membrane technology, etc. However, the field scale applicability of these technologies is affected due to their technical feasibility in a large-scale application, sludge management, secondary pollution, and financial constraints. LCA can be used as an effective decision tool for evaluating the applicability and practical solutions for various treatment methods. In this paper, the sustainability framework for various technologies concerning field-scale arsenic removal has been assessed. It was observed that adsorption has shown good sustainability in many aspects, whereas high performance and low financial sustainability is associated with the membrane process. The present review catalyzes the multifaceted aspects of arsenic research and also provide guidelines to the field-based sustainable arsenic removal technologies, which in turn bring forth pragmatic solutions for the policymakers and engineers. [Display omitted] •Global map of arsenic in groundwater exhibited scattered arsenic predominance.•Effect of chronic arsenic exposure varies from skin lesion to cancer in organs.•Ingestion through drinking is the major exposure pathway.•A framework for sustainability assessment was proposed for technology selection.•Low arsenic standard, sludge handling are key issues in field-scale arsenic removal.