Assessment of Fluoride Content in Ground and Surface Water and its Environmental Impacts at Basavan-Bagewadi and Muddebihal Taluka of Bijapur District , Karnataka , India

An investigation was undertaken in 10 villages (28 samples) of Basavan-Bagewadi taluka and 11 villages (38 samples) of Muddebihal taluka of Bijapur district to assess fluoride and other physicochemical parameters. And also to assess the clinical symptoms like dental and skeletal fluorosis, joint pains and gastrointestinal diseases and to find out the severity of the disease. A check list developed with the help of available literature and in consolation with nutritionists was used to record clinical symptoms. A sample survey was made after examination for both sexes between the age of 8-50 years at BasavanBagewadi and Muddebihal taluka. Fluoride content varies from 0.40-6.40 mg/L and 1.10-7.10 mg/L. However 12 samples were within the range, while 16 samples were above the permissible limits at Basavan-Bagewadi Taluka where as in Muddebihal taluka all the values are above the permissible limits of WHO respectively. The results show that, out of the 2992 examined 824 (25.89%) people have dental and skeletal fluorosis, 274 (9.15%) people have joint pains, 167 (5.58%) have gastrointestinal discomfort and excessive thirst at different stages in Basavan-Bagewadi taluka. Among 2696 examined, 812(29.49%) people had dental and skeletal fluorosis, 432 (16.18%) people had joint pains, 415 (15.54%) people had gastrointestinal discomfort and excessive thirst at Muddebihal taluka of Bijapur district.


Introduction
Fluorosis is an endemic disease resulting from excess intake of fluoride either through drinking water, food or dentifrices at concentration of 2.00 ppm or above.Fluorosis of teeth has been reported to affect dental enamel.Chronic fluorine intoxication through drinking water containing above 10 ppm of fluorine results in pathological changes of bone leading to skeletal fluorosis 1 .While the dental fluorosis can be easily recognized, the skeletal involvement is not clinically obvious until the advanced stage of crippling is reached.Water is the medium of intake by humans 2 .Fluoride can rapidly cross the cell membrane and is distributed in skeletal and cardiac muscle, liver, skin 3 and erythrocytes 4 .Fluorosis is a major public health problem resulting from long term consumption of water with high fluoride levels.It is characterized by dental mottling and skeletal manifestations such as crippling deformities, osteoporosis and osteosclerosis clinical symptoms of dental and skeletal fluorosis in Gadag and Bagalkot districts of Karnataka is reported 5 .
In India, as many as 15 states are affected by endemic fluorosis and an extensive belt of high fluoride in water and soil is reported in south India [6][7][8][9] .Gulbarga district of Karnataka was found to be a fluorosis endemic area [10][11] .The documentation of clinical symptoms depicts the severity of the disorder and helps to plan for the corrective measures.Hence in the present investigation an attempt was made to record the clinical features of fluorotic patients in Basavan-Bagewadi and Muddebihal taluka of Bijapur district, Karnataka.

Experimental
The study was conducted in ten endemic villages of Basavan-Bagewadi taluka and eleven villages of Muddebihal taluka of Bijapur district.A sample survey was made after examination for dental, skeletal, joint pains and gastrointestinal diseases of both sexes between the ages of 8-50 years.The permanent teeth were the only once examined.The examinations were carried out by one dentist to standardize the readings.The Jackson index method of dental fluorosis was used.There are no major surface water sources in the study area however, main sources of drinking water in selected area are open wells, hand pumps and bore wells.

Sample analysis
A total of 28 samples from the villages of Basavan-Bagewadi taluka and 38 samples from the villages of Muddebihal taluka water sources were collected in polythene bottles, which were cleaned and finally washed with acid water, followed by rinsing twice with distilled water.The water samples collected were chemically analyzed.The analysis of water was done using procedure of standard methods 12 .Fluoride concentration was determined spectrophotometrically using Alizarin red-S and SPADNS reagents.The Alizarin red-S method was found useful in higher fluoride range while SPADNS reagent was employed in low fluoride range 13 .

Results and Discussion
The findings of the present investigation are summarized in Tables 1 and 2 were also made with WHO drinking water standards 14 .
In the present study electrical conductivity values of the samples were found to be 0.80 to 4.62 and 1.19 to 9.48 mhos/cm.It shows that most of the samples were within the permissible limits (7.50-20.00mhos/cm).However it is indicating high mineralization in that area.The pH value of study area ranges from 7.20 -8.30 and 7.31-8.5 and it is found to be well within the permissible limits prescribed for drinking water standards 9.65 -8.5 (WHO 1970).The research finding revealed for TDS values ranging between 505-3424 mg/L and 3552-4117 mg/L respectively at Basavan-Bagewadi and Muddebihal taluka respectively.The analytical report reveals for total hardness concentration generally vary from 220-2380 and 160-3520 mg/L.The samples were found to be more than the desired limit of 300-600 mg/L as prescribed by WHO.Present investigation data states that for calcium values ranges from 14-675 and 16-454 mg/L and it indicates that the concentration were found to be more than the permissible limit prescribed for WHO (1970) drinking water quality standards.It is proved from the present research investigation report for chloride values ranges between 35-1058 mg/L and 31-1280 mg/L, the prescribed drinking water standards for chloride is 200-600 mg/L.The samples were found to be above the permissible limits of WHO (1970) prescribed drinking water standards.Sulphate values were from 8 -1290 mg/L and 15 -1632 mg/L.These values were above the permissible limits of drinking water standards.Fluoride values vary from 0.40-6.40mg/L and 1.10-7.10mg/L.However 12 samples were within the range while 16 samples were above the permissible limits at Basavan-Bagewadi taluka where as in Muddebihal taluka all the values are above the permissible limits of WHO respectively.

Conclusion
From the result and discussion presented above the important role of drinking water in the incidence of fluorosis is obvious.It is therefore, essential that the villages affected by fluorosis be supplied with safe drinking water less than 1 mg/L fluoride, either by changing the water source to safer once or by adapting suitable treatment technique to remove fluoride in the existing sources.Since grains, vegetables and milk are also significant sources of fluoride to man, their fluoride content could be taken into account while fixing the safe level of fluoride in drinking water.
Table1.Physicochemical characteristics of water quality in selected villages of Basavan-Bagewadi taluka.

Table 2 .
Physicochemical characteristics of water quality in selected villages of Muddebihal taluka.