A village in Assam where the water is 'slow poison

 

A village in Assam where the water is 'slow poison'

When it comes to fluoride pollution in groundwater of Assam, the first name that comes to mind is Tapatjuri village in Hojai district which is the most affected area. The permissible limit of fluoride in water is 1 mg per litre, but the water sample from Tapajuri hand pump or tube well has fluoride level between 10-15 mg per litre, which is naturally destructive. The ill effects of prolonged exposure to high fluoride have mostly affected the bodies of the villagers here. You would hardly find a child or an adult in this village who does not have stained, crooked or crooked teeth which are symptoms of dental fluorosis. Almost every resident of the village complains of joint and body pain. Not only this, the children here do not go to school every day and this is a perfect example of this health problem going out of scope.Ten-year-old Rohima from the village complains that her legs ache all the time. A look at Rohima's teeth shows how big the problem is. Rohima told that her four sisters and brother are also suffering from pain. She says, "I sometimes have to skip school. Because sometimes I can't walk.

Hamzad, who is studying in class six, says he too often suffers from knee pain and struggles to attend school and play, but sometimes all this becomes impossible for him because of the pain.Social worker Dharani Saikia, who has been working on this problem for many years in this village, said that tubewells or handpumps that draw water from 100-150 feet below the ground. They are pulling high levels of fluoride in the water and this is the cause of this 'slow poisoning'.

When you drill down to that depth, you reach granitic rocks that are rich in minerals like fluoride, which adds to the amount of fluoride in the water. “That is why wells, which have to be dug only 10-12 feet, are a safer option and we are advocating their use,” she says.