Chapter 9 - Fluoride Contamination in Underground Water and Its Treatment

Abstract

Water is life and is very precious to all living beings on earth. Fresh water comprises surface water and groundwater. Groundwater is the most dependable source of drinking water and accounts to less than 1% of the entire water resources in the world. The increasing population and fast urbanization have led to overutilization of potable water resources in the recent times. The ground water quality is severely affected by the presence of various contaminants contributed by geogenic factors and anthropogenic factors. Fluoride is one among the various contaminants which significantly deteriorate the water quality. Fluoride in low concentration prevents dental caries, but leads to serious health problems to humans and animals at concentrations above 1.5 ppm through drinking water. Across the globe, many places are suffereing from high fluoride concentration in potable water. Most people drink waterhavingfluoride concentrations more than the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible value of 1.5 mg/L, but there more than 20 nations where fluorosis is prevalent. As the people increasingly get affected by fluoride pollution it is highly important to develop an effective and inexpensive method for remediation of fluoride in groundwater. The existing treatment methods have several limitationsand are expensive too, of the available techniques, biosorption is promising as it is comparatively simple to carryout, environmentally safe and also cost effective.