FLUORIDE CONTENT OF MINERAL WATER AND TAP WATER IN CHAHARMAHAL AND BAKHTIARI PROVINCE, IRAN

Poor quality of drinking water in many countries, people have recently changed to bottled water consumption. This study wanted to measure the fluoride (F) concentration of drinking water in comparison with commercial brands of mineral bottled water available in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran. 11 different brands of bottled mineral water and 90 samples of tap water were evaluated for fluoride concentration. The standard SPADNS method was used for analysis of Fluoride in the water (DR/5000s Spectrophotometer). The highest concentration of fluoride in a bottled water brand was found to be 0.41 mg/L. There was a significant difference between the average fluoride value of tap water (municipal) (0.20 ± 0.03 mg/L), tap water (rural) (0.13 ± 0.02 mg/L), and bottled water (0.24 ± 0.02 mg/L) (P < 0.05). The measured fluoride concentrations of bottled water were lower than those displayed on the labels. Results showed that the average fluoride value of both mineral bottled water and tap water samples contain fluoride below the maximum allowable level.