Contamination and Removal of Iron and Fluoride from Groundwater by Adsorption and Filtration: A Review

The problems related to groundwater contamination by Iron and Fluoride are common and serious all over the world, especially in developing countries. Excess amounts of these contaminants have created health problems. For this reason, the maximum permissible limit for iron given by WHO and BIS is 1 mg/l, however 0.3 mg/l is the desirable limit. For fluoride, the maximum permissible limit is 1.5 mg/l but as per WHO the desirable limit is 0.8-1.2 mg/l. While as per EPA and PHS the optimal levels of Iron and Fluoride in drinking water is 0.3 mg/l and 0.7 mg/l respectively. Therefore, the knowledge of removal of these ions from water is essential. Adsorption is a technique which can be effectively used for removal of these ions from groundwater. In the present paper an attempt has been made to study the iron and fluoride contamination, their effects to health and environment and removal their removal from groundwater using the process of adsorption and adsorptive filtration.