Experts' bid for clean water

water supplies in West African villages could be made safer to drink, thanks to a project by environmental engineers.

Researchers are to travel to Ghana to test a sustainable technique for lowering dangerously high levels of fluoride and other contaminants in domestic water supplies.

Researchers from Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt universities hope the technique can be used to lower the consumption of fluoride among the population as excess fluoride can lead to serious health problems, including dental fluorosis and the potentially crippling bone disease skeletal fluorosis.

Professor Andrea Schfer, of Edinburgh University's school of engineering, said: "High levels of fluoride in water can be very harmful. We hope that our method of removing fluoride, using local resources, will prove suitable in Ghana."