The Groundwater Project

Fluoride in Groundwater

Book Cover for Fluoride in Groundwater
Publication year: 2022
Number of pages: 130

ISBN: 978-1-77470-019-8
https://doi.org/10.21083/978-1-77470-019-8

Citation: Nordstrom, D.K., & Smedley P.L., (2022). Fluoride in groundwater. The Groundwater Project. https://doi.org/10.21083/978-1-77470-019-8.

Authors:

D. Kirk Nordstrom: United States Geological Survey,  USA
Pauline L. Smedley: British Geological Survey, United Kingdom

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Last Update: 19 January 2024​
Released: 11 January 2022

Description

Groundwater researchers, educators, regulators, and water managers should have a general working knowledge of naturally occurring fluoride in groundwater. It often occurs at concentrations unfit for drinking when the aquifer rocks are silica-rich volcanics, granites, or phosphorous-rich marine sediments. This book introduces the reader to how our knowledge of fluoride in groundwater began, its effect on teeth and bones at high dosages, its distribution in groundwaters worldwide, natural processes causing high fluoride concentrations, examples of aquifers contaminated with unhealthy concentrations of fluoride and techniques used to treat excess fluoride in groundwater.

Interview with Authors

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION

2 HISTORY OF FLUORIDE IN WATER AND THE RECOGNITION OF FLUOROSIS

3 LITERATURE ON FLUORIDE IN WATER

4 REGULATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FLUORIDE IN DRINKING WATER

5 ROCK AND SEDIMENT SOURCES

5.1 Fluorine in Igneous Rocks

5.2 Fluorine in Sedimentary Rocks

5.3 Fluorine in Metamorphic Rocks

6 MINERAL SOURCES

7 FACTORS AFFECTING FLUORIDE MINERAL SOLUBILITIES

7.1 Thermodynamics and Mineral Saturation Indices

7.2 Ionic Strength Effects

7.3 The Effect of Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) And Calcite Precipitation

7.4 The Effect of Temperature On Fluoride Concentrations

8 WORLDWIDE OCCURRENCES OF FLUORIDE IN GROUNDWATER

9 NATURAL GEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES CAUSING HIGH FLUORIDE GROUNDWATER

9.1 NA-HCO3 Groundwaters and the Aquia Aquifer, Maryland, USA

9.2 Aquifer Lithology and Mineralogy

9.3 Extremes Of pH

10 ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES OF HIGH FLUORIDE GROUNDWATER

11 CASE STUDIES

11.1 Ion Exchange in the Lincolnshire Limestone Aquifer, Eastern England

11.2 The Datong Alluvial Aquifer, Shanxi, China

11.3 The East African Rift Valley

11.4 The North China Plain Alluvial Aquifer

11.5 The Black Creek Sandstone Aquifer, South Carolina, USA

12 MITIGATION OF EXCESS FLUORIDE IN GROUNDWATER

13 CONCLUDING REMARKS

14 EXERCISES

15 REFERENCES

16 BOXES

Box 1 Fluoride Concentrations in Groundwaters by Continent Size Regions and Countries

17 EXERCISE SOLUTIONS

18 ABOUT THE AUTHORS