Professor Muhammad Iqbal Bhanger Director National Centre of Excellence Analytical Chemistry (NCEAC) University of Sindh has said that the Thar desert of district Tharparkar lies in the south-eastern corner of Sindh.
It is bounded on the eastern side by the border with India, in the north by district Khairpur and in the west by the districts of Mirpurkhas and Badin. Geologists believe that thousand of years ago the sea turned to a desert because an earthquake and stormy winds created sand dunes.
The great Arabian Sea then changed its route leaving the land completely dry, thus, turning it into a desert, spread over about 22,000 sq-km having a population of more than 1.2 million people.
The Thar area has a tropical desert climate. The months of April, May and June are the hottest ones. The average maximum and minimum temperatures during this period range from 24o C to 41o C. December, January and February are comparatively cooler months with average maximum and minimum temperatures lying between 9o C to 28o C.
Rainfall varies from year to year. Rain mostly falls in the monsoon months between June and September whereas winter rains are insignificant. Like many deserts, Thar provides habitat for a wide variety of animals.
The desert fox and the caracal - a short-tailed, tufted-eared wild cat - hunt here. Both predators eat rodents and birds; the caracal also hunts small-hoofed animals.
Cattle farming and agriculture based of rainfall are the main sources of livelihood in this area. A socio-economic condition of people also lacks basic necessities of life. The only source of drinking water for a majority of people in this area is the underground water.
In majority of areas the water is saline with high dissolved salts and therefore not fit for drinking purpose.
One of the major problems in the underground water of most areas in Thar Desert is a chemical element known as fluoride which is found in rocks and minerals (Granite) and therefore leached out in water by a process known as weathering of rocks. Because it is highly reactive, fluoride enters the human body by ingestion, inhalation, and, in extreme cases, through skin.
Water-borne fluoride is absorbed more rapidly than that ingested through food. Although fluoride is an essential element for the teeth that is why it is added in small amount in tooth pastes, but it is harmful in increasing amount, ie more that 1.5 mg per litre of water.
Therefore high amount of fluoride in water can cause teeth and nail striations, dental fluorosis, or on prolonged exposure to high levels of fluoride, skeletal fluorosis - a kind of bone disease. Preliminary investigations carried in few areas have shown that it is a high fluoride zone and a number of health problems associated with high fluoride are prevalent.
Among the adverse effects of drinking water quality, fluoride fluorosis is a serious disease among the local population of Thar Desert. The chronic intake of excessive fluoride leads to the severe and permanent bone and joint deformations of skeletall fluorosis.
The Thar Desert has a unique geological and geographical position. The land of Thar, the way of its inhabitants, peculiarity of its physical features, a particular type of climate and its natural life combine together to make it an interesting region to study and understand different elements, making it different. Due to its unique topography, soil, vegetation and hydro geological situations, it possesses immense potential for scientific research.
There are number of scientific problems associated with the quality of available groundwater used for drinking. Among them, fluoride and microbiological diseases are common in Thar.
The purpose of this study is to investigate into the area and provide government an a complete survey of water scenario and recommend a purification of water strategies in these areas and thus save the inhabitants not only from the lethal diseases but also it helps improving the socio- economic conditions.
Besides this development of a simple technology for water purification with respect to fluorides is also going on in the author's laboratories. It is hope that something positive will come out.
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