ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN TRIBAL DOMINATED VILLAGES OF BARKAGAON, HAZARIBAG, JHARKHAND, INDIA

Abstract

Water is most essential component for the survival of any kind of life on the planet Earth. Quality and quantity of water at any place play a vital role in health, wealth and prosperity of life. Geogenic contaminants including fluoride have affected ground water in more than 200 districts of 19 states of India. Fluoride is one of the most essential elements for calcification of bones and teeth where as excess intake (above 1.5 mg/lit.) may cause skeletal, non skeletal and dental fluorosis. Drinking water samples from five tribal dominated villages of Barkagaon (230 52′ 5′′ N latitude and 850 14′ 15′′ E longitude), Hazaribag, Jharkhand, India were taken fortnightly from hand pump during rainy, winter and summer seasons (July 2011- June 2012) for fluoride analysis as per standard protocol of APHA (2005) and the results showed that all the samples contained higher concentration. The highest average concentration of fluoride was recorded in Bhurkundwa village (3.84±0.8 mg/lit.) where as it was lowest in Aswa village (1.89± 0.8 mg/lit). We have studied the impact of fluoride among 426 school children (06-16 yrs) with reference to Dean’s Index for dental fluorosis which reveals that almost 87% were suffering from dental fluorosis. The results clearly indicate that the dental fluorosis among children is directly related to fluoride concentration in drinking water. Our opinion regarding the higher fluoride concentration in the study area is due to excess mineral exploration. Thus necessary steps must be taken to supply the quality drinking water to the locality for the maintenance of the health of tribal people.