Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Environmental Earth Sciences (2017) 76:778 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7122-7 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Investigation of fuoride contamination and its mobility in groundwater of Simlapal block of Bankura district, West Bengal, India Sandip Mondal 1  · Subodh Kumar 1 Received: 4 December 2016 / Accepted: 13 November 2017 / Published online: 21 November 2017 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2017 Abstract The occurrence of dental/skeletal fuorosis among the people in the study area provided the motivation to assess the distri- bution, severity and impact of fuoride contamination in groundwater of Bankura district at Simlapal block, West Bengal, India. To meet the desired objective, groundwater samples were collected from diferent locations of Laxmisagar, Machatora and Kusumkanali regions of Simlapal block at diferent depths of tube wells in both pre- and post-monsoon seasons. Geo- chemical results reveal that the groundwaters are mostly moderate- to hard-water type. Of total groundwater samples, 37% are situated mainly in relatively higher elevated region containing fuoride above 1.5 mg/L, indicating that host aquifers are severely afected by fuoride contamination. Machatora region is highly afected by fuoride contamination with maximum elevated concentration of 12.2 mg/L. Several symptoms of fuorosis among the diferent age-groups of people in Laxmisagar and Machatora areas are indicating consumption of fuoridated water for prolonged period. The groundwater samples were mainly Na–Ca–HCO 3 type and rock dominance indicating the dissolution of minerals taking place. Ion exchange between OH − ion and F − ion present in fuoride-bearing mineral is the most dominant mechanism of fuoride leaching. High con- centration of Na + and HCO 3 − increases the alkalinity of the water, providing a favorable condition for fuoride to leach into groundwater from its host rocks and minerals. Keywords Groundwater · Contaminant transport · Spatial distribution · Fluorosis · Fluoride · Simlapal Introduction Fluoride contamination in groundwater is a worldwide prob- lem. Around 200 million people, from 25 nations, are at risk due to fuoride enrichment in groundwater (Kut et al. 2016; Hallett et al. 2015; Ayoob and Gupta 2006). Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in the rural areas of developing countries like India (Selvakumar et al. 2017; Bhattacharya et al. 1997). Since last few decades, fuoride contamination in groundwater has become a serious threat (Kim et al. 2012; Yadav and Khan 2010; Yadav and Kumar 2010; Sabal and Khan 2008; Wang et al. 1999). Chronic injection of high fuoride contaminated water may cause dental fuorosis and in extreme cases, skeletal fuorosis (Raju 2016). Totally, twenty states of India including 43 blocks of seven districts of West Bengal are sufering due to elevated fuoride concentration in groundwater (Kumar et al. 2016; Datta et al. 2014; Majumdar 2011; Dutta et al. 2006). According to joint action plan of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) with The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2006, it was identifed that seven districts of West Bengal, i.e., Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, Maldah, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur and South 24 Parganas, were having elevated fuoride concentration above the permissible limit 1.5 mg/L as recommended by World Health Organiza- tion (WHO) and Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) (Gupta and Misra 2016; Mondal et al. 2014; Majumdar 2011; Adler and World Health Organization 1970; Amini et al. 2008). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7122-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sandip Mondal san.mondal@gmail.com Subodh Kumar kumarsubodh381@gmail.com 1 Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Mahatma Gandhi Avenue, Durgapur, West Bengal 713209, India