Ingestion of low levels of fluoride compounds is beneficial to the body and prevents dental caries. Some of us can perhaps still remember advertisements of fluoridated toothpastes. But long term ingestion of excess fluoride can be harmful to the body and cause a condition known as fluorosis that affects teeth and bones.
In the recent past there has been excessive dependence on groundwater to meet potable water needs. If groundwater passes through fluoride rich rocks, it dissolves the fluoride and the water consequently can have more than an acceptable level of fluoride. Water used for drinking should not have fluoride in excess of 1.0 mg/l.
To create awareness on water quality issues with a specific focus on fluoride contamination in groundwater sources, Schools Water Portal and Oracle Education Foundation are partnering on a nationwide programme that engages middle and high school students from across the country in a water quality testing, analysis and reporting exercise for fluoride in groundwater. The project aims to give students practical exposure to a problem that affects 6.6 crore people in 19 states in India.
The students of Class VIII A and B of Oakridge International School, Visakhapatnam under the aegis guidance of the Project Director, Mrs. P. Suryalakshmi , participated in this competition. The students collected 30 different samples of ground water from different locations of Visakhapatnam and tested them for fluoride content with the water qualiy testing kit, provided by the organisers. students in carrying these experiments safely and successfully.To everybody’s surprise, the fluoride content in the ground water of the city was found to be more than the permissible level.
Mrs.Radhika and Mr. Ranganath, the Science faculty of the school provided their assistance for the same.
Links for the details on the internet:
http://www.schools.indiawaterportal.org/water-quality-kit-results-upload
