Monitoring of Fluoride Content in Drinking Water by Ion Chromatography: A Case Study in the Suzhou Urban Area, China.

BACKGROUND Both deficient and excessive intake of fluoride can lead to adverse health problems. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to investigate the fluoride content in three types of drinking water in Suzhou urban area. METHOD Ion chromatography was employed to conduct the validation of analysis of fluoride ion in water and the method was applied to analyze the concentration of fluoride in 22 drinking water samples, including tap water, purified water, and commercially available bottled water, collected from five municipal districts of Suzhou urban area. RESULTS The used method was validated in the range of 0.05 and 2.00 mg/L with good repeatability and accuracy. Results of water analysis indicated that fluoride content in tap water ranged from 0.267 to 0.336 mg/L (average 0.304 mg/L), and the levels of fluoride in purified water and bottled water were 0.068-0.317 mg/L (average 0.134 mg/L) and 0-0.120 mg/L (average 0.080 mg/L), respectively. CONCLUSION The amount of fluoride in all samples analyzed were lower than the limit set for fluoride in drinking water according to the China standard (1.0 mg/L). The low fluoride exposure for the population in the studied area was observed, and the replacement of tap water with purified and bottled water could further aggravate the deficient of fluoride intake for local residents. HIGHLIGHTS The present study carried out is the first to characterize the fluoride content in these three types of drinking water in Suzhou urban area by ion chromatography.