A Comparative Analysis of Fluoride Contamination in a Part of Western India and Indus River Basin
Fast-growing population, water demand, and the presence of inorganic contaminants in groundwater of arid and semiarid region have created a need for quality assurance before the domestic water supply. Altogether, 30 water samples were collected from Jaisa
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A Comparative Analysis of Fluoride Contamination in a Part of Western India and Indus River Basin Shubhangi, Anand Kumar, Akanksha Balha, Sonal Bindal and Chander Kumar Singh Abstract Fast-growing population, water demand, and the presence of inorganic contaminants in groundwater of arid and semiarid region have created a need for quality assurance before the domestic water supply. Altogether, 30 water samples were collected from Jaisalmer (10 samples each from Jaisalmer and Pokhran blocks) and Bhatinda (10 samples) districts of Rajasthan and Punjab, respectively, and analyzed for major ions and water quality parameters. Results suggest that most of the groundwater samples are alkaline in nature with high electrical conductivity. Based on the mean value, most of the ions such as Na+, SO4 2 , Cl−, NO3 , and F− are found to be above the WHO guideline for drinking water. Geochemical modeling and conventional graphical plots are used to decipher the groundwater chemistry. Mg–HCO3 is found as the most dominant water type followed by Na–HCO3 and Na–Cl in Bhatinda, while in Jaisalmer and Pokhran Na–Cl is found as the most dominant water type except one sample which shows water facies of Na–HCO3 type. Fluoride is found as the major contaminant in all the three regions as F varied from 1.9 to 4.5 mg/L in Jaisalmer, while in Pokhran and Bhatinda it has varied between 1.1 and 6.1 mg/L and 0.8 and 4.0 mg/L, respectively. About 60% of the samples from Bhatinda, 100% samples in Jaisalmer, and 90% of the samples from Pokhran contain F > 1.5 mg/L. Most of the samples are undersaturated with fluorite and gypsum while oversaturated with calcite and dolomite suggesting dissolution of fluorite as a major contributor for high F− in groundwater of the study areas. Keywords Fluoride
Groundwater Arid and semiarid regions
Shubhangi A. Kumar A. Balha S. Bindal C. K. Singh (&) Department of Energy and Environment, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi 110070, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 A. Mukherjee (ed.), Groundwater of South Asia, Springer Hydrogeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3889-1_16
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Introduction
The occurrence of fluorine, a naturally found element in earth’s crust as fluoride (F−) ions in groundwater, has become a global public health concern. Due to high electronegativity and reactivity, fluorine is mostly found as fluoride mineral complexes and under favorable conditions this moves from aquifer minerals to groundwater. Fluoride is an essential part of human diet as a daily dose of 0.5–1.0 ppm is required for proper development and mineralization of bones and enamels of teeth. Consumption of fluoride through groundwater is reported as the tow edge knife as both low and high fluorides affect human health adversely (Hussain et al. 2002, 2004). It has been found that the deficiency of fluoride leads to dental caries, formation of enamel, and bone fragility (Cao et al. 2000; Ayenew 2008), while the high concentrati
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