Epidemiological survey of ground water fluoride toxicity in 6 to 10 year old children of Prayagraj

The deterioration in quality of water influences the entire ecosystem and may cause health Problems.During the last many years the ground water draft has increased enormously and the natural recharge has been reduced to a large extent and a fall by 2 m water table during summer in city area. has been reported, which might have been a reason for the deterioration of Underground water quality. The Prayagraj district lies between 24°47’ and 25.47’N and 810 .09’ and 810 .21’E and spreads in an area of 5246sq km1 with an average of 934mm of annual rainfall, 90% of which occurs from June to September paving the way for available water for deep percolations into the ground aquifer. A decade long study revealed a slow increase in the concentration of fluoride in underground water in the study area of (latitude 25° 27' to 25°45’ and longitude. 81°24' to 81°50') in Prayagraj city situated in the southern part of Uttar Pradesh India. The survey conducted on 960 children of the age group of 6-10 years from economically weaker section of the society revealed that 230 children were found to be affected by fluoride toxicity.