Abstract
The presence of elevated levels of fluoride in groundwater is considered a global problem. Fluoride in water derives mainly from dissolution of natural minerals in the rocks and soils with which water interacts. The most common fluorine-bearing minerals are fluorite, apatite and micas. Anthropogenic sources of fluoride include agricultural fertilizers and combustion of coal. In the present research, a survey of wells (n = 1,060) was undertaken in all the 13 regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assess the contained fluoride (F) levels. The results indicated variation in fluoride levels from 0.10 to 5.4 mg/L as F throughout the kingdom. The average fluoride levels in milligrams per liter as F were as follows in descending order: 1.80 (Hadwood Shamalyah), 1.37 (Hail), 1.33 (Eastern Province), 1.16 (Al Jouf), 1.11 (Qassim), 1.01 (Riyadh), 0.90 (Madina Al Munnawara), 0.81 (Tabouk), 0.74 (Makkah Al-Mukaramma), 0.73 (Jizan), 0.66 (Asir), 0.64 (Najran), and 0.60 (Al Baha). The results indicated that fluoride levels exceeded the USEPA maximum contaminant limits for drinking water (4 mg/L) in several wells (n = 7) in different regions of the kingdom and that 13.96 % of the wells exceeded the World Health Organization recommended levels (1.5 mg/L). The results were also compared with the secondary USEPA contaminant standards of 2.0 mg/L for fluorides.