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AgriAs: Evaluation and management of arsenic contamination in agricultural soil and water

Please see the Layman’s report and the public deliverables of the AgriAs project on the project website http://projects.gtk.fi/AgriAs/.

Main participating organizations: Geological Survey of Finland, University of Oulu; BRGM and LEB Aquitaine Transfert-ADERA from France; G.E.O.S. Freiberg from Germany; Kunglika Tekniska Högskolan and Kemakta Konsult AB from Sweden.

Advisory Board members were from the Natural Resource Institute Finland, Saxon State Office for Environment from Germany, Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation from Poland, MFGI from Hungary, Universidad de Huelva from Spain, and the National University of Lima in Peru.

Occurrence of arsenic (As) in the environment, its toxic effects in water ecosystems, as well as technologies for the removal of As have been widely studied over the past decades. However, several important gaps remain and AgriAs project aimed to focus on these. The overall goal of AgriAs was to provide the European Union with reliable data on the existing risks of As exposure through agriculture, a complete summary of existing tools available for As remediation as well as an array of tools for ecotoxicity and bioavailability assessment. AgriAs built on existing knowledge by using comprehensive national and European databases, developed and tested new technologies aiming to solve problems and carried out efficient risk monitoring. A particular attention was paid to the demonstration and dissemination phase in close cooperation with stakeholders.

The main objectives of the project were:

- To address water and soil pollution by As highlighting the needs for sustainable development and healthy food chain,
- To summarize national and European databases to assess the scale of As contamination in European agricultural soils and water,
- To develop recommendations/guidelines for sustainable management of As risk together with stakeholders,
- To demonstrate As removal technology at target sites and to assess its technological and economic feasibility,
- To apply biological tools in different contexts to assess environmental quality and to manage ecological, environmental and human risks,
- To disseminate the results of the project to stakeholders

AgriAs was co-funded by the EU and Academy of Finland, L'Agence nationale de la recherche, Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft and Forskningsrådet FORMAS under the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015 Call. This ERA-NET is an integral part of the 2016 Joint Activities developed by the Water Challenges for a Changing World Joint Programme Initiative (Water JPI).

Main outputs:

  • AgriAs Layman’s Report: Evaluation and Management of Arsenic Contamination in Agricultural Soil and Water

  • Journal of Hazardous Materials: ‘Risk management for arsenic in agricultural soil-water systems: lessons learned from case studies in Europe’ Loukola-Ruskeeniemi et al. 2022. J. Hazard. Mater. 424, 124677.

  • Journal of Geochemical Exploration: ‘Arsenic in agro-ecosystems under anthropogenic pressure in Germany and France compared to a geogenic As region in Finland’ Tarvainen et al. 2020. J. Geochem. Explor. 217, 106606.

  • Journal of Hazardous Materials: ‘Influence of agricultural amendments on the biogeochemistry and phytotoxicity of arsenic in a soil polluted by the destruction of arsenic-containing shells.’ Battaglia-Brunet et al. 2021. J. Hazard. Mater. 409 (5), 124580.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source http://projects.gtk.fi/AgriAs/
Project coordinator Loukola-Ruskeeniemi, K.
Last Updated April 22, 2022, 16:27 (UTC)
Created January 21, 2022, 13:31 (UTC)
Access level info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Project identifier ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015, Water JPI. Grant numbers: Academy of Finland (312056, 312078), L'Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR-16-WTW5-0003-04), Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (2816ERA02W), Forkningsrådet FORMAS (2017-00027).
Start date April 1, 2017, 00:00 (UTC)
End date December 31, 2019, 00:00 (UTC)