Veerati Radhika and G. V. Praveen
The continuous uses of water carrying high amount of fluoride may prove toxic to human, animal and plants. Excessive fluoride concentrations have been reported in ground water of more than 20 developed and developing countries including India where 4 states are facing fluoride problem. In view of this an attempts were made to find out the fluoride content in groundwater of Kommala of Warangal (Andhra Pradesh). Fluoride concentration over permissible limit (0.8-1.5mg/l) in drinking water lead to human health hazards such as dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis affecting millions of people. Preliminary investigation indicates that several health disorders have been indentified in Kommala area of Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh due to excess intake of fluoride through drinking water. Most of people in this area suffer from dental & skeletal flurosis such as mottling of teeth, deformation of ligaments, bending of spinal column and ageing problem. Overall all water quality was found unsatisfactory for drinking purpose without any treatment. So an urgent need is to educate the people on the causes of flurosis, encouraging defluoridation technique for providing fluoride free water in the study area.