A Quick, Onsite Test for Delineating Arsenic Contaminant Plumes in Soil

Dipping vats were used routinely in the southeastern U.S. in the early 1900s to eradicate the cattle fever tick. The legacy is many dip vat sites with arsenic (As)-contaminated soil and ground water. Assessing the extent of these As plumes can be time consuming and expensive. We describe a quicker and less expensive, onsite test for soil As. It is a modification of a commercially available test designed for As in water, taking about 10 min to complete, allowing large plume areas to be delineated in a single day. An As contaminant plume in Alachua County, FL, was delineated using the quick test. Soil samples taken from a large grid encompassing the plume were analyzed in the laboratory for As to confirm the results obtained with the quick test. The comparison showed that the quick test very accurately delineated the outer boundary of the plume as well as zones of higher As concentration within the plume.