The Health Ministry has commenced a program to measure the fluoride content in well water in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kurunegala districts.

A survey conducted by the Ministry had revealed that there is a high concentration of fluoride in well water in these areas.

Health Ministry spokesman W. A. D. Wanninayake told The Sunday Leader that there are around 30,000 wells in the Anuradhapura district alone, while 8,000 of these wells are unusable for consumption due to the high level of fluoride found in them.

“Due to the consumption of water with high concentrations of fluoride, people could get kidney diseases and urinary tract diseases and complications, dental flourosis and  bone fluorosis. Especially in the Kekirawa area in the Anuradhapura district and Paanagiri area in the Kurunegala district, bone fluorosis is commonly found. Therefore the Health Ministry has distributed fluoride detecting equipment to 36 MOH divisions in these areas to assist them in detecting fluoride content in well water.

The Minister of Health Maithripala Sirisena has instructed his ministry officials to detect wells containing high levels of fluoride and display warning signs for people not to use the water in those wells for drinking purposes,” he added.

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