Environmental and health effects of fluoride contamination and treatment of wastewater using various technologies

The growth of the economy is highly dependent on industrial development, and most industries discharge their effluent into streams or lakes. Due to industries growing at a very fast rate, the rate of pollution increased several times. Various industries discharge their effluent into the mainstream of water. As a result, the water becomes polluted and humans, aquatic animals, and even plants are affected. Fluoride is a chemical contaminant. It is toxic to plants and animals, including humans. This chapter explores the impact of fluoride contamination on the environment and contaminations in drinking water that can harm human health and various species at high levels. We also examine strategies to prevent and treat fluorosis, both globally and in India, and recent advances in fluoride remediation, as well as review various methods for fluoride removal from drinking water, such as coagulation-precipitation, membrane separation process, ion exchange, adsorption techniques, hybrid technology, and others. However, membrane and ion exchange processes are not widely adopted due to high installation and maintenance costs. Coagulation-precipitation and adsorption techniques are more prevalent in India. Among the different methods for water defluoridation, the adsorption technique is widely used and provides satisfactory results. It is also a more attractive method in terms of cost, design, and operation simplicity. The literature survey reveals that various methods have demonstrated novel potential for fluoride removal. However, it is still a need to evaluate the feasibility of such methods on a commercial scale, leading to improved pollution control.