- Government today launched National Water Quality Sub Mission on Arsenic and Fluoride to provide safe drinking water to about 28,000 affected habitations in the country by March 2021 with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore.
- West Bengal is badly affected by the problem of arsenic, Rajasthan suffers from presence of fluoride in drinking water with serious health hazards.
About Arsenic & Fluoride:
- Arsenic is a chemical element with symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal.
- Arsenic is a metalloid.
- It has various allotropes, but only the gray form is important to industry.
- The primary use of metallic arsenic is in alloys of lead (for example, in car batteries and ammunition). Arsenic is a common n-type dopant in semiconductor electronic devices, and the optoelectronic compound gallium arsenide is the second most commonly used semiconductor after doped silicon.
- Arsenic and its compounds, especially the trioxide, are used in the production of pesticides, treated wood products, herbicides, and insecticides.
- These applications are declining, however.
- A few species of bacteria are able to use arsenic compounds as respiratory metabolites.
- Trace quantities of arsenic are an essential dietary element in rats, hamsters, goats, chickens, and presumably many other species, including humans.
- However, arsenic poisoning occurs in multicellular life if quantities are larger than needed. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a problem that affects millions of people across the world.
Fluoride:
- Fluoride is the simplest anion of fluorine. Its salts and minerals are important chemical reagents and industrial chemicals, mainly used in the production of hydrogen fluoride for fluorocarbons.
- In terms of charge and size, the fluoride ion resembles the hydroxide ion.
- Fluoride ions occur on earth in several minerals, particularly fluorite, but are only present in trace quantities in water. Fluoride contributes a distinctive bitter taste.
- It contributes no color to fluoride salts.
- Fluoride salts and hydrofluoric acid are the main fluorides of industrial value.