Assessment of water quality with special emphasis on fluoride ions of Udhampur District, J&K, India: Correlation with physico-chemical parameters

Abstract

Fluoride is a mineral which is naturally being mixed to water in any area and its concentration varies with geographic variations. But present scenario also observes higher concentration of fluoride due to anthropogenic activities. Present work aims to record the fluoride concentration in 25 water bodies, out of which 6 water bodies are lotic and 19 are lentic. The fluoride concentration in water bodies of the study area varied from 0.3 - 1.1 mg/l. Also was recorded a fraction of relation between fluoride concentration and other physico-chemical parameters. It was observed that five parameters viz air temperature, water temperature, pH, bicarbonate and chloride bears a good positive correlation whereas the rest of the three parameters viz calcium, magnesium and total hardness (TH) bears a negative correlation with fluoride.