Studies indicate that ingestion of high concentration of arsenic may result in internal malignancies, including cancers of the kidney, bladder, liver, lung, and other organs, and that is why US EPA has lowered the allowable concentration of arsenic to 5 ppb for drinking water.; In many parts of the world, it has been discovered that groundwater is highly contaminated with arsenic, and recent research shows that drinking water is the most important pathway for long-term low dose exposure to arsenic while all around the world many people are dependent on groundwater as a source of drinking water.; As most arsenic removal technologies are either highly expensive or inapplicable to small water treatment utilities, the objective of this research is to find a simple and cost-effective method by using natural materials for water purification and specifically for arsenic removal.; The concept behind this research is to utilize natural materials only in their own natural state and to avoid employing synthetic materials and chemicals for water purification. In this study, experiments are designed and conducted in a manner to avoid utilizing synthetic chemicals and to circumvent producing hazardous waste.; Dried goatskin and sheepskin have been employed to investigate whether these skins have the capability of being developed as membranes for water purification, and specifically for heavy metal removal and/or desalination.; Also in this research, crushed scallop shell, without any preparation or pretreatment, has been employed as an adsorbent to remove arsenic. Different batch-experiments have been conducted to examine the effect of adsorbent mass, initial concentration of arsenic, and particle size of adsorbent on arsenic removal.
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