With only 1% of water on the earth available for mankind, water pollution has become a serious threat. The unique property of water being a universal solvent has led to water bodies drowning in the pool of chemicals, plastics and other pollutants, making it highly vulnerable to pollution. Degradation of water in both quantity and quality is an increasing issue all around the globe and India, in particular, is facing this issue due to its large and ever-increasing population, rapid urbanization, increased need for agriculture and industries, etc. Due to high risk of pollution and instutionalisation of surface water bodies, ground water is an essential and vital component of our life support system and is the major source of water for 1/3rd of the world’s population. The ground water resources are being utilized for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes. There is growing concern on deterioration of ground water quality due to geogenic and anthropogenic activities. The quality of ground water has undergone a change to an extent that the use of such water could be hazardous. Increase in overall salinity of the ground water and/or presence of high concentrations of fluoride, nitrate, iron, arsenic, total hardness and few toxic metal ions have been noticed in large areas in several states of India.

Study area is the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh which is one of the second largest districts in Uttar Pradesh that has high fluoride contamination including a few others like Unnao, Agra, Meerut, Mathura, Aligarh, and Raibareli.

Sonbhadra is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh which is facing the issue of fluoride contamination according to CGWB. This is the only district bordered by four states namely Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand. It is the second largest district of UP and has an area of 6905 km² and a population of 1,862,559 (2011 census). Sonbhadra district comes in aspiration district list of government of India. Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform these districts. Situated on plateau and fertile valleys. This is also a tribal district where tribal literacy rate is 44.2%. Out of the total population, 82% population is residing in rural areas and 18% in Urban areas.

River Son which runs through the district divides it into two distinct topographic divisions, with the north of Son River consisting of more weathered zone compared to the negligible amount in south of the river. The topology of the region is such that it comprises of granitic and phyllites rocks. The rocks are covered by red and sandy soil.

Fluoride presence and contamination in groundwater: TheScenario at grassroot level

Statement of Problem
Central Ground Board report, 2014 mentions,

• Declining groundwater level trend in the district. the artificial recharge practices and water-shed management (from hill to valley approach) should be adopted at large scale.

• There is urgent need of Quality assessment of shallow and deeper groundwater and its relationship with the lithological behavior to test the levels of F and other minerals

• Urgent need of fluoride free drinking water supply in the district either through construction of deeper boreholes or application of sustainable water purification method.

It is reported in one of media study report that out of 600 villages in the district 150 villages suffer from excess Fluoride in ground water beyond permissible limit. (NDTV report on CSE 2011 study). In the Sonbhadra district, villages of Chopan and Myopur blocks have severe problem of fluorosis due to high Fluoride present in the ground water been consumed by the community. A few years ago, government interventions were made for treatment measures. A water treatment plant and a water supply project were also installed here, that which was functional till 2015. Most of these treatment plants are nonfunctional and have phased out due to O&M reasons and lack of participation from the communities.

F concentration (ppm) in Groundwater in villages of Chopan block (2015)

Source: GW brochure Sonbhadra GWB, http://sonbhadra.kvk4.in/district-profile, Nitiayog
(https://sonbhadra.nic.in/about-district)

This project is aimed at identifying the Fluoride contaminated hotspots by water quality testing in Chopan block of Sonbhadra district. The identification of the hotspots will be followed by implementation of affordable community and locally owned water treatment technologies. The project also involves stakeholder interaction and communication through all the phases of the technology implementation via stakeholder consultation workshops, FGD discussions, etc. to develop capacities within community for proper operation & management of the technology and also to inculcate a positive behavioural change towards water management practices.
Total 21 villages were identified which have been affected by F contamination. Further implementation strategy involves:

• The Water Quality data, health and nutrition data collection from all 21 villages of Chopan block.

• Identification of intervention site based on on-field socio-demo-economic survey, water quality data and KAP study.

• Training and awareness in villages for community sensitization.

• Adopting models of citizen science to involve community for regular water testing and awareness generation

The permissible limit of fluoride, 0.05 mg/day/kg of body weight is recommended for maintaining good health and is important to improve oral health but above 1.5 mg/l the consumption of fluoride causes health disorders.

Table 1: Permissible Levels of Fluoride in Drinking Water

Source:https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/fluoride.pdf

The team visited Chopan Block of Sonbhadra in all fluoride affected areas-Jogale, Khewatha, Gaeghat, Kharara, Parsoi, Gosari, Panari, Bardiya, Chopan, Kanach, Pakri, Khandhura, Kota, Padarach, Negai, Chachikhurad, Doomar, Gidhiya, Kuarawa, Piprakhand. And the current situation is far different from earlier reports.

The fluoride content in the water samples of the above-mentioned villages is shown in the table below. It showed that the 8 areas have the Fluoride content to be extremely high that is, beyond 3 mg/l, which gives a clear insight to focus on the need of quality standards of the water.■

Table 2: Fluoride content for the visited areas in the Chopan block of Sonbhadra

The Scenario of Fluoride contaminationat grassroot level -

Shubham Sharma
ssharma@devalt.org