Monitoring of fluoride in groundwater resources of Iran.

Fluoride concentration in groundwater resources that used as the source of drinking water in urban areas of Iran was determined. All of the groundwater wells located in urban areas were monitored in 2008. Fluoride concentration of water samples was measured using SPADNS method. The nationwide mean fluoride concentration in the groundwater resources was found to be 0.47 +/- 0.28 (+/- standard deviation) mg/L. Only in Bushehr Province, the provincial mean fluoride level in the groundwater resources was higher than the WHO guideline value of 1.5 mg/L (1.86 +/- 0.86 mg/L). At nationwide level, the portion of extracted groundwater with fluoride concentration lower than the minimum permissible level of 0.5 mg/L, desirable fluoride range of 0.5-1.5 mg/L and elevated fluoride level was 69.2, 29.3 and 1.4%, respectively. In the areas with low fluoride content drinking water, it is recommended that fluoride is absorbed by use of high fluoride content foods and beverages. The recommendations for the circumstances with excessive fluoride content of drinking water are provision of drinking water from alternative sources and defluoridation of drinking water by point-of-use systems, respectively.