Abstract
The high availability of fluoride in surface and groundwater in the East African Rift Valley was documented during the colonial period. Since the early 1960s, many studies have been conducted to solve the fluorosis crisis in this region. At present, no cost-effective solution to mitigate fluoride contamination is available for the large majority of the population. This situation prompted a process analysis of commonly used technologies. Results revealed that the geochemistry of fluoride is the main problem. Fluoride is very difficult to remove from the aqueous phase. Thus, eliminating the need for technical water defluoridation is an excellent way out of the fluorosis crisis. This goal can be achieved by harvesting fluoride-free rainwater. Harvested rainwater can be mixed with naturally polluted waters in calculated proportions to obtain safe drinking water (blending). This paper presents a concept to transform the Kilimanjaro Mountains into a huge rainwater harvesting park for drinking water supply for the whole East African Rift Valley. However, blended water may contain other pollutants including pathogens that are easy to treat using low-cost methods such as metallic iron based-filters (Fe0 filters). The proposed concept is transferable to other parts of the world still enduring fluoride pollution.
Highlights
At low concentrations, fluoride has been reported to have some useful physiological properties in human health [1,2,3]
A myriad of natural and synthetic materials have been tested and used in this effort and the results show a wide variety of defluoridation efficiencies
Given these preconditions, introducing the rainwater harvesting (RWH)-against-fluorosis-concept would be feasible in regions where: (i) available water is fluoride polluted and there is lack of access to water of sufficient quantity and proper quality; (ii) there is a good chance of harvesting rainwater in sufficient quantity; (iii) sufficient technical capability is available; and (iv) financial and political willingness to explore alternative solutions are present
Summary
Fluoride has been reported to have some useful physiological properties in human health [1,2,3]. Even the bone char defluoridation technology commonly perceived as simple to perform, affordable, and applicable for decentralized water treatment has not yet achieved/approached universal safe drinking water supply in the East African Rift Valley [7,10,11,15,16]. This alarming situation has prompted the need to explore alternative options for providing safe drinking water without relying on technical defluoridation. The efficiency of these filters can be further enhanced and optimized by incorporating metallic iron (Fe0) and other materials [23,24,25,26]
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