Fluorosis Mitigation

Fluorosis Mitigation (An issue of groundwater contamination and Public Health)
During 1998-99, the first case of Fluorosis was detected in Boden block of Nuapad district of western Odisha. Until then the people of this region had never heard of such a problem. In the year 2002-03, when SVA started a program for micro-level planning in collaboration with People’s Science Institute, Dehradun, with financial support from the PMO, it was discovered that the number of people and villages affected by Fluorosis was quite higher than imagined. Hence, SVA set up a special well equipped laboratory to test all the drinking water sources in Nuapada district and it was found that out of the 603 villages, nearly 400 villages had fluoride content above the permissible limit and almost all the villages were susceptible to Fluoride contamination, leading to a Fuorosis disaster in the district. This report was shared with the state government and because of the media campaigns, government has started a grand project to supply safe drinking water through pipeline to all the villages.
Afterwards, SVA has also conducted sample-surveys in neighbouring districts and working on raising awareness among the public.