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Fluoride Content and its Relation with Physico-chemical Parameters of

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 International Journal on Agricultural Sciences 7 (2) : 137-141, July-December 2016 Research Paper
ISSN No.: 0976-450X

Fluoride Content and its Relation with

Physico-chemical Parameters of Ground Water
Vijaya Lakshmi D.1 Jeevan Rao K.2, Ramprakash T.3 and Reddy A.P.K.4
1
Krishi Vigyan Kendra, PJTSAU, Rudrur, Nizamabad, Telangana State, India
2
College of Agriculture, PJTSAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana State, India
3
AICRP on Weed Control, PJTSAU, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, Telangana State, India
4
Farmers Cal Centre, ANGRAU, Hyderabad, Telangana State, India

Received: 31 July 2016; Revision: Accepted:

ABSTRACT
Fluoride concentrations in ground water samples were determined in 86 villages of Ramannapet,
Aatmakoor and Aatmakoor Mandals of Nalgonda District, Telangana during kharif and rabi seasons of 2012-
13. Simple correlation co-efficient have been worked out between the fluoride content and other chemical
constituents of irrigation water. The results indicated that the average fluoride content increased with
increasing pH, while remained independent of soluble salt content. The relationship between fluoride and
chloride, fluoride and sulphate was positive and significant. The cations viz. Ca+2 and Mg+2 showed inverse
relationship with fluoride. The relationship between fluoride and sodium was positive and significant. The
fluoride content in ground water increased with increasing SAR and RSC probably due to increased
solubility. Ground water with high pH, SAR and RSC (high carbonate plus bicarbonate and low calcium plus
magnesium) favours greater solubilisation of the fluoride bearing minerals leads to leaching of fluoride
which results increase in the concentration of groundwater fluoride.

Key words: Nalgonda, Fluoride, Groundwater, pH, EC, Ca+2, Mg+2, Na+, SAR, RSC.

INTRODUCTION problems (Muralidharan et al, 2002). Three major

Groundwater resources have been rendered
unsafe for human consumption as well as irrigation
and industrial needs due to their poor quality. Natural
contamination of groundwater sources by fluoride (F-)
and dissolved salts is a major constraint in arid and
semi arid climates. the fluoride content in ground water
of Indian aquifers varies from 1 to 25 ppm. Higher
fluoride content in ground waters not only poses
problems to human health but also has negative impact
on crop production. Long term use of ground water
with fluoride content in excess of 1.0 to 1.5 ppm causes
fluorosis in human beings.
Wide occurrence of fluoride contamination in
ground water in many unrelated geological and
environmental settings seems to pose more serious
sources of fluoride include fluorspars, rock phosphates
and phosphorites (Rao, 2003). Because of differences
in hydro-geo-chemical condition in acquifers and
differences in contact period between ground water
and fluoride bearing rocks, the fluoride content in
ground water varies widely in nature. Ground water
from crystalline rocks especially younger granites
(alkaline) are deficient in Ca and have relatively higher
fluoride concentrations (Frencken, 1992). The
existence of strong relationship between fluoride and
physic-chemical composition of ground water may
serve as proxy indicator of the potential problem of
fluoride. Keeping this in view, physico-chemical
constituents were interrelated with fluoride content to
assess the potential hazard of fluoride in ground water.

Corresponding author: vijjiprabhu888@gmail.com

137
138 Fluoride Content and its Relation with.....
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Groundwater samples were collected from
Ramannapet, Narkatpally and Aatmakoor mandals of
Nalgonda district, Telangana, India during the kharif
(September) and rabi (April) seasons of 2012-13 from
existing water sources (open wells and bore wells).
The geology of the area is mainly dominated by
granite, gneiss complex, sandstone and limestone.
Totally 82 benchmark sites were fixed depending on
the number of villages of study area for collection of
water samples. Water samples were collected in clean
polyethylene bottles of 600 ml capacity. The sampling
bottles were soaked in 1:1 diluted HCl solution for 24 h
washed with distilled water, and were washed again
prior to each sampling with the filtrates of the sample.
Samples collected were transported to the laboratory
and fortified with 1 ml toluene to arrest any biological
activity. The samples were stored at 40C until used for
fluoride analysis (APHA, 1985).
The samples were analysed for pH, EC, Ca2+, Mg2+,
Na+, HCO3-, and CO32- as per the standard procedure
outlined by Richards (1954). Ca and Mg were
estimated by Versenate method while Na was analyzed
by flame photometry. The basic cations like HCO3-, and
CO32- were estimated by titration with standard
sulphuric acid. The samples Fluoride was analyzed by
using Specific Ion Electrode method Wedepohl
(1969). Correlations were worked out between
fluoride content and pH, EC and ionic constituents of
ground water.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The ground water samples in the study area interpreted
as neutral to slightly alkaline in reaction, non-saline in
nature. The mean values of fluoride present in the
ground water samples of Ramannapet, Narkatpalli and
Aatmakoor mandals were 1.71, 2.28 and 1.72 mg kg-1,
respectively in kharif season and 2.08, 2.88 and 2.45
mg kg-1, respectively in rabi season. As per drinking
water standards, 58.5% (48 samples) of the ground
water samples during kharif and 83% (68 samples) of
the groundwater samples during rabi season have F
content greater than that of maximum permissible limit
of 1.50 mg kg-1. The chloride (Cl-), sulphate (SO4-2) and
borate (B) concentrations of all the water samples in
138
JULY-DECEMBER 2016
both kharif and rabi seasons were below the
permissible limits for irrigation as well as drinking
purposes. No water sample tested in the present
investigation had more than desirable limits of sodium
(Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), carbonate
(CO3-2), bicarbonate (HCO3-), sodium adsorption ratio
(SAR) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC) hence, all
the water from the studied sources can be safely used
for drinking purpose and irrigation purposes. As per
the threshold limits of Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb
and Co for drinking and irrigation water
recommendations, all the samples analyzed during
both the seasons fell within the permissible limits.
Fluoride Content and pH
A significant positive correlation coefficient (r) values
were observed between fluoride and pH in water
samples of Ramannapet, Narkatpalli and Aatmakoor
mandals in kharif season as 0.564, 0.741 and 0.791 and
in rabi season as 0.561, 0.704 and 0.525, respectively.
The significantly positive correlation of fluoride with
pH indicates that alkaline groundwater favors the
solubility of fluorine bearing minerals and likely to
have a higher amount of fluoride, suggesting that the
pH of the groundwater is more important in
determining the concentration of fluoride. Positive
relationship with pH also indicates towards a possible
leaching of fluoride under high alkaline conditions of
water. This is because of the similarity between the
ionic radius of fluoride and hydroxyl ion thereby
replacing each other at higher pH. A positive
correlation (r= 0.893) has also been observed between
fluoride and pH reported by Teotia et al. (1981),
Trivedi (1988) and Gupta and Deshpande (1998).
Fluoride Content and Electrical Conductivity (EC)
The fluoride contents were negatively related with
electrical conductivity as indicated by a non-
significant relationship between the two in the whole
range of salinity. Similar observations were made by
Muralidharan et al., 2002. The relationship between
fluoride and chloride, fluoride and sulphate was
positive and significant. These results are conformity
with the observations of Chakrabarty and Sarma,
(2011).
Fluoride Content and Cations
A significantly strong negative correlation has been
observed between fluoride and calcium in the ground
International Journal on Agricultural Sciences 7 (2) Vijaya Lakshmi D. et al. 139

waters (r values of -0.360, -0.563 and -0.597 in kharif
season and -0.380, -0.263 and -0.413 in rabi season of
Ramannapet, Narkatpalli and Aatmakkor mandals,
respectively) is attributed to high solubility of fluoride
from these cation bearing rocks. If calcium is present in
higher concentration it is most effective in reducing the
fluoride concentration possibly due to precipitation of
fluoride as CaF2. This is also suggestive towards the
possibility of ion-exchange process (Chakrabarty and
Sarma., 2011).
The negative correlation between fluoride and
magnesium has been observed but there is no
significant relationship with magnesium. These results
are in accordance with the findings of Hebbara et al.
(2010) and Boyle (1992). The relationship between
fluoride and sodium was positive and significant. Das
et al., 2003 reported similar findings. High sodium in
an alkaline environment is likely to enhance
solubilisation of the fluoride bearing minerals.
Fluoride Content and RSC & SAR
The correlation between fluoride and RSC, fluoride
and SAR was positive means an increased activity of
CO32- and HCO3- ions coupled with the sodium content
increased solubility and release of fluoride from the
fluoride bearing parent material. The results are in
agreement with the findings of Susheela (1999), Sinha
and Musturia (2004) and Saini and Bhardwaj (2006).
Similar observations were reported earlier by many
investigators (Kaushik et al. 2004; Sabal and Khan,
2008). Rao et al. (1993) concluded that the two main
factors governing fluoride in groundwater from the
Nalgonda District are the presence of acid-soluble F
minerals and low concentrations of Ca and Mg in rocks
and soils, with high concentrations of HCO3 in
circulating groundwater.
The geology of the study area is mainly dominated by
granite/gneisses complex, which has the presence of
fluoride containing minerals such as fluorite (0–3.3%),
biotite (0.1–1.7%), and hornblende (0.1–1.1%) (Rao et
al., 1993). The world average of fluoride concentration
in granitic rocks was found to be 810 ppm (Wedepohl
1969), while fluoride content of granitic rocks from
Nalgonda was found to be in the range of 325 to 3,200
ppm, with a mean of 1,440 ppm. Thus, the granitic
rocks of Nalgonda possess the highest fluoride content
than in any other parts of the world. However, the
release of fluoride is influenced by the composition of

Table 1: Correlation coefficients (r) between fluoride concentration and other chemical properties of
ground water
r value in
S. No Correlation Among Ramannapet Narkatpalli Aatmakoor
Kharif Rabi Kharif Rabi Kharif Rabi
1 Fluoride vs pH 0.564** 0.561** 0.741** 0.704** 0.791** 0.525**
2 Fluoride vs EC -0.146 -0.120 -0.199 -0.182 -0.491 -0.013
3 Fluoride vs chloride 0.412* 0.226 0.724** 0.245 0.392* 0.353
4 Fluoride vs sulphate 0.052 0.071 0.062 0.288 0.019 0.251
5 Fluoride vs carbonate 0.434* 0.120 0.143 0.037 0.243 0.232
6 Fluoride vs bicarbonate 0.435* 0.198 0.457* 0.532** 0.621** 0.260
7 Fluoride vs calcium -0.360 -0.380 -0.563 -0.263 -0.597 -0.413
8 Fluoride vs magnesium -0.268 -0.139 -0.546 -0.343 -0.033 -0.017
9 Fluoride vs sodium 0.790** 0.437* 0.693** 0.543** 0.763** 0.541**
10 Fluoride vs SAR 0.806** 0.535** 0.756** 0.576** 0.804** 0.561**
11 Fluoride vs RSC 0.599** 0.424* 0.703** 0.519** 0.745** 0.175
*0.373 - Significant at 5 percent level ** 0.477 - Significant at 1 percent level
*0.389 - Significant at 5 percent level **0.499 - Significant at 1 percent level

139
 140 Fluoride Content and its Relation with.....
the ground water. From the above observations it is
evident that, ground water with high pH, SAR and RSC
(high carbonate plus bicarbonate and low calcium plus
magnesium) favours greater solubilisation of the
fluoride bearing minerals leads to leaching of fluoride
which results increase in the concentration of
groundwater fluoride. Such an observation was also
made by Rao et al. (1993).
Seasonal Variations of Fluoride in Ground Water
When compared to two seasons, the concentration of
fluoride in groundwater during kharif was lower than
the rabi. Seasonal distribution is found significantly
and the variation of fluoride is dependent on many
factors. During the kharif season, dilution may be
attributed to replenishment of the groundwater by
rainfall indicated a clean recharge without pollution
from external sources. During rabi season, high
fluoride concentration due to over-exploitation of
groundwater resources for agricultural and drinking
water purposes. As a result, 83% (68 samples) of the
groundwater samples during rabi season have F
content greater than that of maximum permissible limit
of 1.50 mg kg-1 compared to 58.5% (48 samples) of the
ground water samples during kharif. Among the
different sources of irrigation water, higher fluoride
concentrations were observed in bore well than open
well. These results are agreement with the findings of
Goyal (2013). Seasonal distribution of fluoride is
dependent on a variety of factors such as amount of
soluble and insoluble fluoride in source rocks, the
duration of contact of water with rocks and soil
temperature, rainfall and oxidation- reduction process
(Mahapatra et al., 2005 and Paya and Bhatt, 2010).
CONCLUSIONS
A significant positive correlation coefficient (r) values
were observed between fluoride and pH, while fluoride
was negatively related with soluble salt content. The
concentration of fluoride in groundwater increases as
the carbonate and bicarbonate content of water
increases, and it decreases along with increase in
calcium and magnesium content. Overall, high pH,
high carbonate plus bicarbonate, and low calcium plus
magnesium in groundwater leads to leaching of
fluoride which results in increase in the concentration
of fluoride in groundwater.
This is the case that happens in Canturing kay walay puti2 (smug, Ca and Mg)
ang tubig, and it is alkaline.
140
JULY-DECEMBER 2016
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to Professor Jayashankar
Telangana State Agricultural University for providing
financial assistance during my post-graduation under
Dept. of Soil Science & Agricultural Chemistry,
College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad
during the study.
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