Township water treatment plants usually involve filtration of large millions of gallons of water at the end of which certain chemicals are added. Chlorine is added to kill germs, Iodine to prevent goiter and Fluorine to prevent tooth decay. In normal situations however, these chemicals are naturally present in various sources of water be they wells or rivers. Situations do arise however where an anomaly in the local geology of a region results in the deficiency of some of these elements. When this happens the local population stands the risks becoming victims of the corresponding ailment.
I have noticed that my friends who come from certain parts of Tarokland better known as Langtang in Plateau State in central Nigeria often have brownish dental coloration that could be tooth decay. That could mean that the water available in that locality has a deficiency in fluorine. I told this to one of my Tarok friends. He later told me that ever since I said this, he has come to the conclusion that it could be true. This is because he has noticed that he and his brothers that were born and raise in the city in Jos don’t have this dental coloration but he has noticed that his cousins, born and raised at the village all seem to have the problem.
Sadly, our governments always place emphasis on urban areas when it comes to modern water supply provision. There is though an effort to provide treated water to the people of Langtang that has however stalled for years despite the obvious difficulty of sourcing for water for domestic activities by the people of the area particularly in Langtang South where people walk for kilometers just to get a few jerry cans of water that is never good enough for human use. There is the need for the relevant government to be conscious of this and do the right thing to end the problem of the wrong water supply that could have unpleasant consequences.
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