Determination of fluoride in ground water from Lalle parish, Soroti district.

Abstract

In this study, the concentration of fluoride ions was determined in different boreholes as one of the sources of water for domestic use and other applications. The main objective of this study was to investigate on the level of fluoride contamination in borehole water sources in Lalle Parish. The specific objectives were to determine the concentration of fluoride ions in different borehole water and to determine the physicochemical properties (PH, EC, Temperature, TDS) for the different water samples. The concentration of fluoride ions was determined in ten boreholes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J and K) in Lalle parish. It was found that the highest fluoride concentration was 0.67 mg/L (B) and the lowest was 0.09 mg/L (F). The average fluoride concentrations for the 10 boreholes was 0.317 mg/L. There was a high fluoride concentration in some boreholes due to leaching of minerals from underground rocks making fluoride ions to accumulate in the borehole waters. However, the fluoride concentration in these water sources is within the WHO permissible limits.