The fluoride contamination in drinking water is already gone to the alarming level and it needs the immediate involvement and attention of all people to solve this problem. Fluoride problem is higher in hard rock terrains in worldwide and Madurai is such type of hard rock region. Totally 54 samples were collected from the Madurai district of Tamilnadu with respect to lithology. The samples collected were analysed for major cations and anions using standard procedures. The higher concentration of fluoride is noted in the Charnockite rock types of northern part of the study area. 20 % of samples are below 0.5 ppm and 6 % of samples are above 1.5 ppm exceeding the permissible limit. The affinity between the pH and fluoride ions in groundwater suggests that dissolution of fluoride bearing minerals in groundwater. The higher concentration of fluoride ions are observed in the lower EC concentration. The isotopic study suggests that fluoride is geogenic in nature. In factor scores, fluoride is noted in association with pH which indicates the dissolution process.

Fluoride is a chemical element that has been shown to cause significant effects on human health through drinking water. Different forms of fluoride exposure are of importance and have shown to affect the body’s fluoride content and thus increasing the risks of fluoride-prone diseases. Fluoride has beneficial effects on teeth; however, low concentrations of fluoride intensify the risk of tooth decay. Fluoride can also be quite detrimental at higher concentrations at skeletal fluorosis. The Thoothukudi District is a hard rock and alluvial plain marked as one of the Fluoride-increase area in Tamilnadu due to occurrence of various rock types including fluoride-bearing minerals. The F⁻ content of groundwater can thus originate from the dissolution of Fluoride-bearing minerals in the bed rock. Hundred representative groundwater samples from Thoothukudi District were collected during two different seasons. Samples were analysed for F⁻, other major cations and anions. The study area is chiefly composed of hornblende biotite gneiss, charnockite, alluvio marine, fluvial marine and granite with small patches of quartzite and sandstone. Higher concentration of fluoride is observed during pre-monsoon (3.3 mg l^–1) compared to the post-monsoon (2.4 mg l^–1) due to the dilution effect. Spatial distribution and factor score show that higher concentrations of F⁻ are noted in the north and central part of the study area owing to lithology. Bicarbonate is well correlated with F⁻ which explains that both ions were derived from the weathering. While F⁻ has a very weak correlation with pH which may be due to the increase of alkalinity resulting from the increase of carbonate and bicarbonate ions.