Assessment of Fluoride and Nitrate in Ground Water: Selected Villages of Mahabubnagar Mandal & District, Telangana State (India)

An attempt was made to assess the fluoride and nitrate concentration in ground water of selected villages of Mahabubnagar mandal and district where the ground water is main source for drinking. Ground water samples were collected from different bore wells of villages and analysed some important parameters such as temperature, colour, odour, pH, Electrical conductivity, nitrate and fluoride. Findings reveal that all the ground water samples consists more than 1.0mg/lit. of fluoride and values of ground water samples ranges from 1.12mg/lit. to 1.91mg/lit. Highest value found Zamisthapur station i. e 1.91mg/lit. As per the maximum permissible limit for fluoride in drinking water 1.5mg/lit. prescribed by World Health Organisation (2004) and Bureau of Indian Standards (2009), 53 % of ground water samples in study area found beyond maximum permissible limits. Due to higher fluoride concentration present in ground water sources, few characteristics of fluorosis have been observed at alarming stage in the study area. Whereas Nitrates are concerned in two stations i. e Alipur (132mg/lit) and Machenpally (109mg/lit. ) are found excess in limits. Remaining all samples found within the limits as prescribed by WHO.