High levels of arsenic in well water are causing widespread poisoning in Bangladesh. In a typical aquifer in southern Bangladesh, chemical data imply that arsenic mobilization is associated with recent inflow of carbon. High concentrations of radiocarbon-young methane indicate that young carbon has driven recent biogeochemical processes, and irrigation pumping is sufficient to have drawn water to the depth where dissolved arsenic is at a maximum. The results of field injection of molasses, nitrate, and low-arsenic water show that organic carbon or its degradation products may quickly mobilize arsenic, oxidants may lower arsenic concentrations, and sorption of arsenic is limited by saturation of aquifer materials.

Accumulation of magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate (struvite) on surfaces in contact with wastewater, especially in anaerobic sludge digestion and post-digestion processes, is a widely reported problem in the wastewater treatment industry. The solubility and thermodynamic properties of struvite at different temperatures was studied. Struvite thermodynamic solubility products at temperatures between 10 and 60 °C were determined by variation of solution ionic strength and extrapolation to zero ionic strength, using an appropriate activity coefficient model. The pK_sp value of struvite at 25°C was found to be 13.36(±0.07). The pKsp value for a temperature range of 10-60 °C varies from 14.36(±0.05) to 14.01(±0.03) with the minimum value of 13.17(±0.05) at 30°C. The effect of ionic strength, pH and temperature on struvite solubility was also studied. The solubility of struvite determined in deionized water was found to be 169.2 (±4.3) mg l^-1 at 25°C, with the maximum value of 212.7 (±3.8) mg l^-1 at 35°C. Standard enthalpy of reaction, ΔH_γ °, calculated from the average K_sp values for the temperature range of 10-30 °C, was 23.62 Kcal mol^-1. An analytical expression for the K_sp as a function of temperature has been developed by fitting experimental data.

Over the last several decades, much of population of Bangladesh and West Bengal switched their water supply from surface water to groundwater. Tragically, much of the region's groundwater is dangerously contaminated by arsenic, and consumption of this water has already created severe health effects. Here we consider how groundwater flow may affect arsenic biogeochemistry and we compare the vertical patterns of groundwater chemistry at our intensive study site with the average values across the country. Detailed hydraulic data are presented from our field site that begins to characterize the groundwater flow system.