Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) is a serious health problem in Sri Lanka especially among agricultural communities in dry zone since 19th century. In the present study, several water quality parameters were studied in well water samples and only four parameters, namely, hardness, cadmium level, fluoride level, and strontium level have shown a relationship with the CKDu prevalence. Higher percentage of well water samples collected from CKDu prevalent area in both pre and postmonsoon seasons have exceeded the WHO recommended levels of hardness. Further, water samples collected in postmonsoon seasons had significantly higher hardness than the well water samples collected in premonsoon season ( P < 0.05 ). This may be due to the dissolution of calcium carbonate by water recharge. Moreover, cadmium and fluoride contents have exceeded the recommended levels in high-risk area during the premonsoon period. Furthermore, according to principal component analysis (PCA), four clusters were identified depending on the different levels of fluoride, cadmium, hardness, and strontium contents. The control area (Am) fell in to separate cluster with low contents of fluoride, cadmium, hardness, and strontium than in CKDu prevalent area. Since it has been found that the above species are directly involved in renal damage, it can be concluded that a synergetic effect of cadmium, fluoride, hardness, and strontium in well water may be a main cause for CKDu in Sri Lanka.

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In this study, physically and chemically modified chitosan; protonated glycerol diglycidyl ether cross-linked chitosan beads (GDCLCB/H+) were prepared and characterized using FTIR and SEM. The optimum defluoridation capacity (DC) of GDCLCB/H+ was observed at the initial F- ion concentration of 15 mg/l, adsorbent dosage of 0.6 g, contact time of 30 min and pH of the solution was in the range of 5–7 at 303 ± 2 K. The equilibrium adsorption data fitted well with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The maximum adsorption capacity (q0), obtained from Langmuir isotherm for F-adsorption was found to be 2000 mg/kg, which was significantly higher than that of unmodified chitosan (192.3 mg/kg) and most of the chitosan-based sorbents reported in the literature. Water samples collected from Medawachchiya, Sri Lanka, were treated with the adsorbents and the results suggested that GDCLCB/H+ could be used as an effective defluoridation agent.

Adsorption of diazinon residues from water by Strychnos potatorum seed flakes: Equilibrium isotherm and thermodynamic analysis.

Hardness in water is responsible for both residential and industrial problems. Moreover, drinking hard water is suspected as the main cause of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka. The major constituents that are responsible for water hardness are calcium and magnesium ions. In this study, a composite was synthesized using activated carbon of Strychnos potatorum seeds (ACSP) and acrylamide to remove hardness in drinking water. The synthesized composite was characterized using Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). According to this study, the process of removal of hardness depends on the contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial contents, and pH of the solution. The adsorption data were well fitted to the Freundlich isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic models. Furthermore, environmental samples collected from Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, which is well known for water with high hardness, were treated with an adsorbent, and hardness was reduced effectively. Moreover, the adsorption appeared to be spontaneous in nature. Finally, it can be concluded that this adsorbent can be used as an effective hardness-removing agent.