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Water is necessity to human and other life, human uses water for drinking, agricultural activities, domestic activities and so on. Therefore, it become necessary to study the level of radiation in our drinking water, because it poses many biological risks to human and other life when exceeded the maximum contamination level. This study examined the level of radioactivity of drinking water collected from local hand-dug wells and boreholes in Dutse town of Jigawa State. A total of 24 samples were collected and analyzed using MPC-2000, a Low Background alpha and beta counter. The equipment is a gasless proportional counter with ultra-thin window. The results showed that the alpha activity ranges from 0.006 to 0.485 Bq/l with a geometric mean of 0.060 Bq/l for borehole water samples and 0.003 to 1.08 Bq/l with a geometric mean of 0.094 Bq/l for well water samples and that of beta activity ranges from 0.009 to 84.68 Bq/l with a geometric mean of 5.288 Bq/l for borehole water samples and 6.830 to 6284.50 Bq/l with a geometric mean of 29.70 Bq/l for well water samples. Most of the sampling areas were above the maximum recommended level set by World Health Organization (WHO) of 0.5 Bq/l for alpha and 1.0 Bq/l for beta and United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) of 0.55 Bq/l for alpha and 1.85 Bq/l for beta activity. An attempt has been done to examine the correlation between the alpha and beta activity and a very poor correlation was obtained. It was further observed that well water samples recorded higher activity compared to borehole water samples. The lower activity in the borehole water samples may be due to the absorption of the activity in the pipes unlike the well water samples that was drawn directly from it source. The overall results showed that many of the sampling areas are not suitable for drinking, agriculture and other domestic activities. It is therefore, recommended that more studies should be carried out to ensure the safety of the general public in these locations.

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This research reports the annual effective dose of dwellers based on the finding of natural radioactivity concentrations in Malaysian tiles. A total of 30 tiles samples obtained from the manufacturer or bought directly from local hardware store. Natural radioactivity was analyzed using gamma spectrometry system for 12 h counting times.

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