Abstract
Sixty groundwater (GW) samples from bore and dug wells averaging 560 feet deep were collected from the six villages of Baroi, Chhasara, Gundala, Mundra, Pragpar, and Zarpara in the semi-arid Mundra region of Kachchh, Gujarat, India. The mean temperature of the GW collection samples was 32.11oC, and the average slightly alkaline pH was 8.2, which is characteristic of GW in this semi-arid region. Average turbidity was 7.7 NTU, and the total dissolved solids (TDS) average was 1141.19 mg/L. Zarpara had the highest total alkalinity level of 620.84 mg/L, whereas the average was 392.01 mg/L. The average total water hardness level was 267.71 mg/ L, which falls under a normal range. The average biological oxygen demand (BOD) was less than 6 mg/L, and the dissolved oxygen (DO) was 7.6 mg/L. The average levels of calcium, magnesium, and chloride were within permissible limits. Fluoride (F) concentrations were higher in Chhasara, Gundala, and Mundra villages with values of 3.42, 1.8, and 1.9 mg/L (ppm), respectively. The socio-economic scale of the area was essentially low and equal, i.e., category E in a scale of A–E. Urine samples of 34 schoolchildren from high F and 50 from low F villages were collected and analyzed for F: 2.25 ppm in urine samples from villages having higher F levels in the GW, which was highly significant (p?0.01) as compared to 0.42 ppm F in the low F villages. The average IQ level of schoolchildren (N = 50) from the low F villages was 97.17, which is significantly higher (p?0.001) than 92.53 of schoolchildren (N = 34) from the high F villages.