Geospatial Analysis of Fluoride Contamination in Groundwater of Southeastern Part of Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh - Management of Natural Resources in a Changing Environment - page 58

Geospatial Analysis of Fluoride
Contamination in Groundwater
of Southeastern Part of Anantapur District,
Andhra Pradesh

B. Muralidhara Reddy, V. Sunitha, and M. Ramakrishna Reddy

Introduction

The occurrence of fluoride (F − ) concentration in groundwater is mainly due to natu-
ral or geogenic pollution and the source of contamination is often unknown (Handa
1975a ; Saxena and Ahmed 2002 ). Geogenic contamination of groundwater depends
mainly on the geological setting of an area. As rain water infiltrates through soil and
reaches the water table, it can dissolve partly certain component of bedrock. The
F − content of groundwater can thus originate from the dissolution of fluorine-
bearing minerals in the bed rock. In other words, bed rock mineralogy is a primary
factor in general for the variations in F − content of groundwater (Chae et al. 2007 ;
Raju et al. 2012 ). F − contamination of groundwater is a function of many factors
such as availability and solubility of fluorine-bearing minerals, temperature, pH,
concentration of calcium and bicarbonate ions in water, etc. (Chandra et al. 1981 ;
Largent 1961 ). In contrast to anthropogenic pollution of surface water, geogenic
contamination of groundwater is difficult to detect and even more difficult to con-
trol. The presence of excessive concentrations of F − in groundwater may persist for
years, decades or even centuries and can reach the food system (Todd 1980 ). In
recent years, there has been an increased interest in F − research because high con-
centration of F − in groundwater causes adverse impact on human health. In order to
mitigate the excessive F − in groundwater, it is essential to determine and monitor the
casual factors of enrichment of F − concentration in groundwater in time and space
(Ahmed et al. 2002 ; Raju et al. 2009 ).