Iodine level and Hardness in Drinking Water in Selected Areas of Howrah and Purba Medinipur District, West Bengal state of India

Endemic goiter has been reported from the southern part of West Bengal. The bioavailability of iodine and hardness of water used for drinking in the region are inversely and directly related to goiter prevalence in several geographical regions. These factors were evaluated to study the etiological factors for the persistence of endemic goiter. The local drinking water concentration can give an induction of the iodine content of the soil. Water hardness is defined by the high concentrations of calcium and magnesium present. In the present study, 5 Community Development (CD) Blocks and 8 CD Blocks attached to the river Ganga are selected from Howrah and coastal areas of Purba Medinipur district, respectively. From each CD Block, at least 8 drinking water samples were collected and analyzed for iodine, calcium, and magnesium content. Iodine content in drinking water samples was found in the range from 7.5 to 95.4 μg/L and the hardness of drinking water was found to range from 210.3 to 625.7 ppm. The presence of magnesium was found to be higher than the calcium salts in most of the samples. These findings suggest that all most all the studied region is environmentally iodine sufficient but water is relatively hard and thus, the possibility of the hardness of water for the persistence of endemic goiter may not be ruled out.