Deflouridation of Osukuru water using anti-hill soil.
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Date
2026
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Busitema University
Abstract
This project determined the effectiveness of anti-hill soil in removing fluoride ions from contaminated water collected from Osukuru hills in Tororo District, Uganda. The study was carried out because excessive fluoride in drinking water causes dental and skeletal fluorosis, creating a serious public health challenge. The specific objectives were to determine the initial concentration of fluoride ions in water samples, evaluate the efficiency of anti-hill soil as a low-cost adsorbent for fluoride removal, and determine the optimum conditions for maximum fluoride removal. The SPADNS spectrophotometric method was used to determine fluoride concentrations before and after treatment using the UV-VIS spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 570 nm. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted using 10 g and 20 g of anti-hill soil, while the effect of contact time was investigated at 30, 60, and 90 minutes. The results show that the initial fluoride concentrations were 1.510 m/v in borehole water, 1.497 m/v in tap water and 1.099 m/v in well water. After treatment with 10 g of anti-hill soil, the concentrations decreased to 0.813 m/v, 1.373 m/v and 0.717 m/v for borehole, tap and well water respectively. Increasing the adsorbent dosage to 20 g further reduced the fluoride concentrations to 0.676 m/v, 0.169 m/v and 0.429 m/v in borehole, tap, and well water respectively. The highest fluoride removal was achieved after approximately 60 minutes of contact time, after which only slight changes were observed indicating that adsorption equilibrium had nearly been reached. The study also confirmed the presence of aluminum and iron ions in the anti-hill soil, suggesting that these metal oxides provided active adsorption sites responsible for fluoride removal. Overall, the findings demonstrated that anti-hill soil is an effective, inexpensive and environmentally friendly adsorbent for the removal of fluoride ions from contaminated water. The higher R2 value confirms that the adsorbent surface was highly heterogeneous.
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Undergraduate research report
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Citation
Yeko, P. (2026). Deflouridation of Osukuru water using anti-hill soil. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.