Enhanced Removal of Hazardous Fluoride from Drinking Water

Water is an essential natural resource for sustaining life and environment and it is always thought to be available in abundance and is a free gift of nature. However, chemical composition of surface or subsurface soil is one of the prime factors on which the suitability of water for domestic, industrial or agricultural purpose depends. Fluorosis, an endemic public health problem, prevails in 22 nations around the globe. It is a crippling disorder known to occur due to the entry of fluoride into the body. The excessive injection of fluoride through drinking water causes dental, skeletal and non-skeletal forms of fluorosis. Fluorides are released into the environment naturally through the weathering and dissolution of minerals, emission from volcanoes and in marine aerosols. The main natural source of inorganic fluoride in soil is the parent rock. During weathering fluoride minerals break down and dissolve in water. Fluorides are also released into the environment from industrial processes.