Villagers wait to get drinking water from a borewell in Nuapada. Telegraph picture

Nuapada, April 27: Residents of this district, which is infamous for water with high fluoride content and incidences of flourosis, have a good news.

The Rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) department here has begun to address the problem with its effort to provide fluoride-free water. The department has begun a drive to dig sanitary wells instead of the deep borewells, which they believe would solve the problem to a certain extent.

Official sources said that the department had already completed digging 81 such wells that provide fluoride-free water in some areas of the district. Experts said that water drawn from deep borewells have high fluoride contents, but water of the sanitary wells — which are usually only a few feet deep — generally do not contain fluoride.

Assistant engineer of RWSS, Nuapada, said that they had dug the sanitary wells that are only 30 feet deep. “The wells that we dig now are only 30 feet deep, while a tubewell is several hundred feet deep. Since these wells are not very deep, no traces of fluoride are usually found here. Moreover, the wells are covered in its sides by a concrete wall and water level is always maintained at a certain level to prevent the oozing out Flouride. We have already dug 81 such wells. We plan to dig another 100 wells by the end of June. We have to select places for such wells where groundwater level is not very low,” he said.

Official sources also said that the department had declared water of 1,705 tubewells of the district had high fluoride content. The department had sealed some of the tubewells, while it warned people against using water of the other tubewells. “So far, 1,705 tubewells have been found to have high fluoride content. We have warned against using water of these tubewells,” Naik said.

Nuapada is one of the worst affected districts in Orissa which has high fluoride content in groundwater. Situation is more alarming in Komna and Boden blocks of the district. Junior engineer (RWSS) of Komna P.K. Sahu said the worst affected block is Boden, where flouride content in water is more than 1.5mg per litre. Here, almost all tubewells pump water with high fluoride.

“We have asked people not to use these tubewells. The groundwater in Palsipani and Dhumabhata in Komna block and Karlapat and Sukalpur in Boden block have tested high on fluoride. It was detected after an extensive survey and tests,” said Sahu. In fact, the highest content of fluoride has been recorded at 5.4mg/litre in the water of the tubewells of Dhumabhata village of Boden block.

However, the new initiative by the RWSS fails to cater to the needs of the people. “It is good that at least some initiatives are being taken to provide fluoride-free water to the people of the district. But the measures that have been taken are not at all sufficient. The administration must continue its good work and dig more such wells to cater to the needs of the people,” said Abani Mohan Panigrahi of Khariar.