Mapping fluorites in ground water important for policy interventions

MANYARA: ZULEAH Kileyo, a 19-yearold lady has teeth fluorosis. Born in Mererani in Simanajaro District in Manyara Region, she can’t taste anything in drinking water but she is aware that her teeth were damaged by water.

Zuleah says that despite the government’s effort of supplying piped water in the area, still there is a problem because many primary school pupils drink water from unprotected sources. She believes school’s water damaged her teeth.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 sets out to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.

So, it is clear that without serious policy and research interventions, this goal appears to be difficult to reach in regions affected by fluoride water contamination, especially from areas with volcanic activities like northern zone in Tanzania, according to experts.

Professor Revocatus Machunda (PhD), an Environmental Scientist and the Dean of School of Materials, Energy, Water, and Environmental Sciences, (MEWES) at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NMAIST), says areas that in areas which have high amount of fluoride which is greater than the provided standards, people will be at risk of fluorosis.

“In Arusha, we have areas that have water sources with greater fluoride concentration than the prescribed standards. Most sources have higher than the minimum of 1.5mg/L. Areas with elevated amount of fluoride include Ngarenanyuki wards, Oldoinyo sambu, Engikaret, Losinoni, Oldonyowasi among others” he told the ‘Daily News’ during an exclusive interview recently.

The environmental professor who is currently doing a research in the areas of water purification (the chemistry and microbial aspects), renewable energy in the form of Biogas and Sanitation (Mapping of Sanitation facilities, developing shift flow diagrams to that end and resource recovery from fecal sludge), says areas with fluoride higher than the prescribed standard, it is important to map the sources in order to make some interventions.

He also underscored the possibility of biological safety risk of fluoridated water to humans, saying WHO provides 1.5mg/L as a limit for drinking water.

“Yes, the higher the concentration of the fluoride in water, the more chances of getting fluorosis. There is a limit provided for various countries. Which means a person drinking water as per the requirement, can have water of this max. When the amount exceeds this amount of fluoride, it means the body cannot excrete it effectively and the likelihood of being affected is high” he says.

He says the sources of fluoride water occurs when water passes over the rocks bearing such fluorides, where it can acquire it through either weathering of such rocks or leaching.

“The presence of fluoride in water in most parts of Arusha comes from the fact that water picks it from the rocks,” he says.

However, he says fluoride is essential for hardening of human bones and teeth. When present in lower concentration such as less than 0.5mg/L, it is beneficial.

However, high levels of more than 1.5mg/L may lead to fluorosis. “Whenever you see more of these signs, it means the source of water contains higher amounts of fluoride.

The impact is more severe to growing bones especially for kids than for adults,” he says. Prof Machunda further disclosed that there have been several efforts from various stakeholders working on various projects on water fluoridation in Arusha.

“One was done by the ministry of agriculture. This came in after the use of alum through a technique known as nalgonda failed to show some good results and also concern on human health,” he says.

With the bone char, the intervention requires that bones from cattle should be collected, burnt in a kiln and the resultant char be used as a filter to trap the fluoride from water, which is very effective.

However, there have been many issues surrounding this, one being challenges associated with getting bones and charring at large scale. Alternative solutions Prof Machunda also disclosed that researchers at NMAIST in collaboration with others stakeholders have come up with several techniques of water fluoridation filtering.

“We have successfully synthesised the artificial bones (hydroxyapatites) to be used in place of bones, we have used clay soils and activated it at high temperature where it becomes a good adsorbent for filtering the fluoride. We have also applied electrical means, including electro coagulation, capacitive deionisation techniques to address the fluoride issue. We are currently preparing to come up with a filter that could be effective at a community level,” he says.

However, according to the Minister of Water, Jumaa Aweso, the government recently ordered the Water Development and Management Institute (Water Institute) to find a lasting solution of water fluoridation in most affected areas in the country.

“We as the government want experts from the water institute to find a solution. It does not make sense to see our people being affected while we have many experts in this institute,” he said.

He said the government has invested too much in the Water Institute so there is no need to look for experts from abroad.

According to international Journal of Water Resources Development, researchers Luciano Gutierreza, Giuseppe Nocellab, Giorgio Ghiglieric, and Alfredo Idini in their study titled: Willingness to pay for fluoride-free water in Tanzania: disentangling the importance of behavioural factors shows that approximately 200 million people, mainly concentrated in rural areas of the Great East African Rift Valley, suffer from fluorosis caused by excess of fluoride naturally contained in water.

They say the prolonged intake of fluoride-contaminated water can cause dental and skeletal fluorosis. These diseases can seriously affect teeth and bones, causing pain in the joints that over time can lead to reduced mobility and in some cases to permanent disability.

Furthermore, the impact of these diseases may lead to social and psychological disorders, such as social exclusion and sense of isolation and frustration.

Dental fluorosis gives rise to dis-coloration of teeth, and in cases where more than 50 percent of surface enamel has been lost, restoring natural white enamel relies on complex and expensive interventions such as micro- and macro-abrasion or crowns.

The study also suggests that these interventions are time- consuming and not easily available and affordable by many members of these rural communities. The health of these populations is dramatically and irreversibly compromised by skeletal fluorosis because currently no standard treatments are available.