A Web Based Study on Fluoride Affected Areas Using Advanced Geospatial Techniques

Fluoride is a common constituent of groundwater. Agricultural and industrial activities also contribute to high fluoride concentrations in groundwater. Serious problems are faced by people in several parts of the world due to the presence of high concentration of fluoride in drinking water which causes dental and skeletal fluorosis. Nalgonda district in Telangana, India is one such region where high concentration of fluoride is present in groundwater. Since the emergence of GIS technology, there has been an increase of spatial data usage throughout the world. Nowadays, a majority of data transfer is accomplished through the internet. Spatial data can be accessed through standardized web services which sometimes offer large quantities of spatial data. Present study has been carried out to understand some of the problems in fluoride affected areas of Nalgonda district through advanced geospatial techniques. Fluoride concentration data of study area is collected from the different government agencies. Geo-statistical approach has been used to prepare the fluoride concentration map of the study area. Based on the distribution of fluoride concentration, the fluoride affected areas are zoned into high, medium and low categories. Fluoride concentration map is then superimposed with the habitation map. A village named Yellareddygudem is selected for field mapping to know the ground truth regarding fluoride effect on health and water facilities available to the habitation. The geospatial database created is then integrated with ArcGIS Server, JavaScript API to create a web application for visualization of fluoride affected areas.