The members of Fluoride Knowledge and Action Network (FKAN), which was formed by various organisations and experts working on fluoride issue across India, observed that people consuming surface water instead of groundwater will not get any kind of fluorosis.
A team of experts visited M. Yadavelli and Yellareddygudem villages of Narketpally mandal to access the impact of the consumption of surface water in the highly fluoride-affected villages in the district.
Speaking to The Hindu, Arjun L. Kandhare, Deputy Director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), said they noticed a great change in M. Yadavalli which was being supplied with Krishna water since seven years.
Mr. Kandhare further said that elderly persons in the village were seriously affected with various kinds of fluorosis like dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis and others as they all drank water with high fluoride content.
He explained showing the teeth of a 17-year-old boy comparing it with that of another aged 7 years. While the former was suffering from dental fluorosis, the younger boy had no such disease.
The team also visited Yellareddygudem that also has high fluoride content in groundwater, but being supplied with Krishna water for some years now.
After observing these changes, the NIN Deputy Director opined that supplying Krishna water to all the fluoride-affected villages is the only option left with the government to eradicate fluorosis. “If the proposed water grid project by the Telangana government materialises, that would solve the problem to a major extent,” he said.
Sundarrajan Krishan, Executive Director, Indian Natural Resources Economics and Management (INREM) foundation, who was working on the fluoride issue at Anand in Gujarat and Jhabuva in Madhya Pradesh, said they have learnt the mitigation strategies and wanted to share the same with Nalgonda people to successfully eradicate fluorosis.
The team also interacted with students of Mahatma Gandhi University and later met the District Collector, T. Chiranjeevulu, at his office.
Arghyam foundation representative Ayan Biswas, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRST) scientist Dr. Das, Unicef representative Cheukuri Srinivas, Dr. A.L. Narayana and others were present.