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Environmental Pollution pp 345–356Cite as

Recent Developments in Defluoridation of Drinking Water in India

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Part of the book series: Water Science and Technology Library ((WSTL,volume 77))

Abstract

Presence of high fluorides in groundwater has caused systemic fluorosis to become an endemic problem in many countries of the developing world, namely, India, Sri Lanka and many African nations. It is a conclusive fact that higher concentration of fluoride (beyond 1.5 mg/L) can cause teeth mottling and still higher concentrations may lead to different major health hazards including skeletal and neurological problems. The fluoride level in water in India ranges from 2 to 29 ppm, whereas the permissible level in drinking water according to WHO standard is 1.5 ppm and BIS 10500 permits only 1 ppm fluoride in drinking water. Various defluoridation techniques in India have been developed for maintaining the concentration of fluoride in water up to the permissible limit like Nalgonda Technique, reverse osmosis, activated alumina adsorption, Bio-F process, etc. Nalgonda Technique involves addition of Aluminium salts, lime and bleaching powder followed by rapid mixing, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection and the acceptable limit of water of 1 mg/l has been achieved. Defluoridation using activated alumina as adsorbent is not cost-effective. Hence, development of community-based defluoridation unit is needed with a technique which is cost-effective, technologically simple in operation while being able to keep the fluoride level in permissible limit. The paper critically discusses the recent developments in various defluoridation processes, identifies the pertinent gaps in them and offers plausible solutions by summarizing the ongoing research at MNIT Jaipur in order to obviate these gaps through appropriate technological interventions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Jaipur, 302017, India

    Swati Dubey & Madhu Agarwal

  2. Department of Civil Engieering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, Jaipur, 302017, India

    A. B. Gupta

Authors
  1. Swati Dubey
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  2. Madhu Agarwal
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  3. A. B. Gupta
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Swati Dubey .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Vijay P Singh

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, AISECT University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Shalini Yadav

  3. AISECT University, Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India

    Ram Narayan Yadava

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Dubey, S., Agarwal, M., Gupta, A.B. (2018). Recent Developments in Defluoridation of Drinking Water in India. In: Singh, V., Yadav, S., Yadava, R. (eds) Environmental Pollution. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 77. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5792-2_28

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