Fluoride removal and its impact on oral health in Sri Lanka's dry zone: Discussion and recommendation

Fifty percent of the dry zone areas in Sri Lanka have fluoride levels above 1 ppm. This paper discusses the ground conditions and recommends an appropriate range of fluoride in drinking water which can support preventive practices for improving the oral health of children 8-years old and younger. In efforts to address the Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown etiology (CKDU), water treatment to reduce contaminant level in potable water has been implemented. Such treatment would also remove fluoride and has resulted in potable water with various fluoride levels, depending on concentrations in the raw water. While it is important to reduce fluoride levels, it is important to have appropriate residual levels for prevention of dental caries. It needs, however, to be noted fluoride in excess can cause dental fluorosis. In Sri Lanka's dry zone areas increasing prevalence of dental fluorosis with decreasing prevalence of dental caries has been noted. Consumption of tea and powdered milk could increase total intake of fluoride. Fluoridated toothpaste, when used properly, may, however, result in negligible intake of fluoride. Sri Lanka's hot tropical climate which results in substantial intake of fluids reinforces the need to consider reduction in water fluoride. Consideration of local studies and international standards indicate fluoride levels should be in the range of 0.225–0.500 ppm. In the range of 0.225–0.500 ppm, the prevalence of dental fluorosis and caries was only 14% and 8%, respectively, in an endemic district. When fluoride levels are above 0.500 ppm, the issue of dental fluorosis shall need to be addressed. When levels are below 0.225 ppm, oral health care services shall need to be directed at preventing dental caries.     

Co-development of an integrated assessment framework to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of selected nature-based water treatment technologies in Sri Lanka,The Philippines,and Vietnam

Water quality is a critical challenge in Asia in the context of growing industrialization, urbanization, and climate change. Nature-based solutions (NbS) could play an important role in reducing urban water pollution, while generating multiple co-benefits that could make cities more liveable and resilient. In this regard, a number of pilot and demonstration projects have been set up to explore their potential across cities in Asia. Their effectiveness and impacts, however, have not been adequately documented, thus how they can be sustained, replicated and up-scaled remain poorly understood. This study aims to contribute to addressing this challenge by co-developing an integrated assessment framework and employing it to understand how existing evaluations of NbS in the region can be improved. It focuses specifically on a set of nature-based solutions that have been employed for water treatment across six cities in Southeast Asia (two in each Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Vietnam), namely, floating wetlands, constructed wetlands and maturation ponds. The study also suggests specific methodologies for capturing a set of core indicators considered relevant for assessing the effectiveness and capturing the multi-faceted impacts of the examined NbS.     

Ca2+ and SO42− interactions with dissolved organic matter: Implications of groundwater quality for CKDu incidence in Sri Lanka

It has recently been proposed that recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon(DOC) in groundwater plays a potent etiological role in the peculiar distribution of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology(CKDu).This study aims to elucidate the interactions of Ca~(2+)and SO_4~(2-)with a model organic fraction of humic acid(SHA) to determine the possible relationship of CKDu incidence with the DOC in drinking water.XPS and FT-IR methods respectively determined the surface functional groups and chemical composition of protonated dissolved organic carbon(HDOC) in a CKDu high-risk zone(HR) of Sri Lanka and in SHA.Higher surface C composition(87.9%) and lower O(11.4%) were observed for HDOC from the HR region than for SHA(C: 73.8%, O: 24.7%).Aromatic C with less Ocontaining functional groups was observed in HDOC.The IR band at 1170 cm~(-1) confirms the formation of organic sulfonate(C–SO_3~-) on SHA.A band at 1213 cm~(-1) due to organic sulfonate in HDOC from the CKDu HR region was also identified.The IR band at 866 cm~(-1) evidenced the formation of CaCO_3 on SHA above pH 7.4.XPS data confirmed the presence of sulfur oxidation states corresponding to SO_3~(2-)and SO_4~(2-)at 168.9 eV and 170.1 eV binding energies,respectively.The binding energies at 347 eV and 351 eV for Ca 2p_(3/2) and Ca 2p_(1/2) eV,respectively, confirmed the bidentate complexation of Ca~(2+)with COO-and sulfonate groups on SHA.The organic sulfonate formed is postulated as a uremic toxicant.     

Optimized pre-treatment of high strength food waste digestate by high content aluminum-nanocluster based magnetic coagulation

Coagulation-based pre-treatment efficiency of high strength digestate of food waste (HSDFW) anaerobic digestion is negated by organic ligand-catalyzed decomposition of coagulants. In this study, an efficient HSDFW pre-treatment method, magnetic seeds (MS) coagulation, was employed by using highly stable Keggin Al₃₀ nanocluster (PAC₃₀), MS and polyacrylamide (PAM), and its operation was optimized by evaluating the performance of removing turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total phosphorous (TP) phosphate. Results showed that at the optimum dosage of 4.82 g/L, PAC₃₀ demonstrated excellent removals as high as 98.93% ± 0.1% of turbidity, 98.04% ± 0.1% of TSS, 58.28% ± 0.3% of total COD, 99.98% ± 0.01% of TP and 99.50% ± 0.01% of dissolved phosphate, respectively. Apparent molecular weight (AMW) and three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (3D-EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy analyses demonstrated more efficient removal of dissolved organic matter (DOM), particularly non-biodegradable and hydrophobic components by PAC₃₀ than commercial coagulant. The sedimentation was much improved from 40 min by coagulation/flocculation to about 5 min settling by MS coagulation. The PAC₃₀ based magnetic coagulation (MC) presents theoretical guidance on a cost-effective and much less footprint pre-treatment alternative for high strength wastewater.