Fluoride contamination of groundwater and its threat to health of villagers and their domestic animals and agriculture crops in rural Rajasthan, India

In India, Rajasthan is the largest state and has seven divisions, namely Ajmer, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Udaipur. Villagers of these regions, generally, used groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes. The basic sources of groundwater in rural areas are hand pumps, step wells and borewells. Water of most of these sources is contaminated with fluoride (F) with varying amounts. Water of > 60% these sources has F beyond the recommended country standard (1.0 or 1.5 ppm) especially in tribal rural areas of Rajasthan. The highest F range, 0.1–34.0 ppm, has been found in groundwater of these sources in the villages of Ajmer division and the lowest 0.1–6.8 ppm in the Kota. Drinking of fluoridated groundwater for a long time is not safe for health and causes serious fluorosis disease in humans and domestic animals. In Rajasthan, around 40 lakh people are affected with fluorosis which is the highest in the country. At the F range of 1.3–6.7 ppm, the maximum prevalence of dental and skeletal fluorosis in villagers and bovine animals was found 84.0% and 32.7% and 88.9% and 37.8%, respectively. Using fluoridated groundwater in irrigation is also harmful and reduces crops productivity. In this communication, division-wise F distribution in groundwater of rural Rajasthan, F-induced diverse adverse health consequences in villagers and their domesticated animals and agriculture crops and preventive measures for control of F intoxication are critically reviewed. Findings of this review are useful in implementation of health policy for the mitigation of F poisoning in rural Rajasthan.