Prospecting for safe (low fluoride) - Hydrology and Earth System ...

1082 G. Ghiglieri et al.: Prospecting for safe groundwater in the Eastern African Rift
Fig. 1. Geographical map of the study area.
Since excessive consumption of fluoride can result in dental
or skeletal fluorosis (Moller et al., 1970; Tekle-Haimanot
et al., 2006), the consumption of fluoride-contaminated water
in the Rift Valley has made these conditions commonplace
throughout Ethiopia (Lester, 1974; Tekle Haimanot et
al., 1987; Kloos and Tekle-Haimanot, 1999), Sudan (Smith
et al., 1953) and Tanzania (Kilham and Hecky, 1973). Particularly
high fluoride levels are found in the waters of Elementaita
(1640 mg/l) and Nakuru (2800 mg/l) lakes in Kenya
(Tekle-Haimanot et al., 2006). The World Health Organization
suggested in 2006 an acceptable limit of 1.5 mg/l fluoride,
but the Tanzanian government has been forced by an
over-riding need to prevent water shortage, to raise this limit
to 8 mg/l. The urgent need to discover alternative sources of
safe groundwater has prompted the present multidisciplinary
study of a typical rural area located within a semi-arid microenvironment
dominated by alkaline volcanic rocks. The aims
of the study were to identify the main local source of fluoride,
to locate aquifers unaffected by fluoride infiltration/release,
and to develop strategies to exploit safe groundwater.
2 Study area
2.1 Location, climatic and physiographic setting
The project was sited in the 2966 km 2 Arumeru district,
Arusha region, northern Tanzania, lying to the west of
Mt. Kilimanjaro, to the north of Mt. Meru, to the east of
the Arusha to Nairobi (Kenya) road, and to the south of
the Kenyan Amboseli National Park (Fig. 1). The district
is administratively divided into six divisions, 37 wards and
133 villages. The 440 km 2 project working area lies in the
northern part of the district, around 50 km from Arusha, is
bounded by Mt. Meru (4565 m a.s.l.) and the Arusha National
Park, and includes nine villages in the Oldonyo Sambu
and Ngarenanyuki wards. Three main ethnic groups present
are the Wameru (mainly farmers) and the Waarusha and Maasai
(mainly pastoralists). Despite its proximity to the equator,
the study area has an Afro-Alpine semi-arid climate,
characterized by two distinct seasons. The main wet season
lasts from June to September and contributes ∼70% of
the annual rainfall, while the minor wet season lasts from
mid February to mid May. The remaining months are effectively
dry, although occasional showers do occur during this
period. The mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures
are 20.6 ◦ C and 28.5 ◦ C, respectively, and the mean
annual rainfall is 535.3 mm (AA.VV., 2000; Gea, 2005). As
illustrated in Fig. 1, the topography of the area is dominated
by the volcanic cone of Mt. Meru and its slopes cover most
of the area. The remaining land is covered by alluvial fans
fed from Mt. Meru. Recently active small volcanic cones are
present in the north-western part of Mt. Meru, and a number
of small maar-type flat craters are also present. The Big Momela
and the Small Momela lakes, lying within Arusha National
Park to the east of Mt. Meru, are saline and alkaline.
The drainage pattern around Mt. Meru is radial, but further
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 14, 1081–1091, 2010 www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/14/1081/2010/