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Arsenic is a well-known groundwater contaminant that causes toxicological and carcinogenic effects in humans. Predicting the transport of arsenic in the subsurface is often problematic because of its complex sorption characteristics. Numerous researchers have reported that arsenic sorption on soil material is initially fast and then subsequently slow. A dual-site numerical sorption model was previously developed to describe arsenic desorption from arsenic-contaminated soils in batch experiments in terms of two different release mechanisms. Experiments involving synthetic acid rain leaching of four arsenic-contaminated soil columns were performed to verify the dual-site numerical sorption model in the context of one-dimensional vertical transport. The fitted models successfully simulated the signature long tailings and the two-stage arsenic leaching patterns for all four soil columns. The dual-site sorption model was incorporated within the general solute transport simulation code Modular Three-Dimensional Multispecies (MT3DMS), version 5.10. The resulting version was named MT3DDS and is available for public access. This experimental study has shown that MT3DDS is capable of simulating phase redistribution during transport, and thus provides a new numerical tool for simulating arsenic transport in the subsurface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of arsenical herbicides has created legacy environmental problems by contaminating soil in some agricultural areas and at various industrial sites. Numerous previous studies have suggested that the adsorption of arsenic by common soil components is largely controlled by kinetic factors. Four arsenic-contaminated soil samples collected from industrial sites were characterized and subjected to sequential leaching using a synthetic acid rain solution in order to study the release of arsenic. A dual-site numerical sorption- desorption model was constructed that describes arsenic desorption from these soils in terms of two different release mechanisms: Release from type I (equilibrium) and type II (kinetic) sorption sites. Arsenic held on both type I and II sorption sites is accessible through extensive acid rain leaching. Arsenic desorption from these sites follows a linear Kd model; the manner of approaching the Kd model, however, differs. Arsenic desorption from type I sites reached equilibrium with the aqueous phase under the physical environment provided by the experiment (shaking for 24 h at 25° C), while desorption from type II sites followed a first-order kinetic pattern when approaching equilibrium. During synthetic acid rain sequential leaching of the soils, type I sites released their sorbed arsenic rapidly and subsequent desorption was dominated by the kinetic release of arsenic from type II sites. This shift in desorption mechanism dominance generated data corresponding to two intersecting straight lines in the n-logC dimension for all four soils. The dual-site desorption model was solved analytically and proven to be successful in simulating sorption processes where two different mechanisms are simultaneously controlling the aqueous concentration of a trace element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor and a reply are presented in response to the article "Role of Ethics in Groundwater Management," by Jie Liu, Yongqiang Qi, and Chunmiao Zheng in the 2010 issue.