Measurement of natural radioactivity in bottled drinking water in Pakistan and consequent dose estimates

Abstract

Natural radioactivity was determined in 11 different brands of commonly sold bottled drinking water in the federal capital Islamabad and Rawalpindi city of Pakistan using gamma spectrometry technique. Mean concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and (40)K were found to be 11.3 +/- 2.3, 5.2 +/- 0.4 and 140.9 +/- 30.6 mBq l(-1), respectively. The annual cumulative effective doses due to all three natural radionuclides for different age groups of 1-5 y, 5-10 y, 10-15 y and adults (>or=18 y) were estimated to be 4.0, 3.4, 3.1 and 4.1 microSv y(-1), respectively. Among the three natural radionuclides, annual effective doses for all age groups from 226Ra were significant. Children in the age group of 1-5 y appeared to be at risk with respect to the annual effective doses from 226Ra as compared to the other age groups. Results obtained in this study are compared with the reported values from other countries of the world and it was observed that measured activity concentrations of three natural radionuclides in the bottled drinking water were lower than these values. Annual estimated effective doses for all four age groups from the intake of natural radionuclides in bottled drinking water were also found below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended limit of 0.1 mSv y(-1) as well as the average radiation dose of 0.29 mSv y(-1) received per head worldwide due to ingestion of natural radionuclides assessed by UNSCEAR (2000).

Radiochemical characterization of mineral waters in the Eastern Black Sea Region, Turkey

“…That is to say that the occurrence of radionuclides and heavy metals in water causes human internal exposure due to the decay of radionuclide absorbed by the body through ingestion (Fatima et al 2007). Hence, contamination of mineral waters with radionuclides and heavy metals present great hazard.…”

Radiological Characterization of Natural Spring Waters in Eastern Black Sea Region, Turkey

“…The measured mean activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K in spring water samples were compared with various water samples from different countries of the world in Table 5. As shown in the Table, 226 Ra activity concentrations are higher than the values from Pakistan, Sudan, and Greece, but lower than the values from Egypt, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and Brazil (ElArabi et al, 2006;Osman et al, 2008;Salonen, 1994;Sgorbati and Forte, 1997;Karamanis et al, 2007;Isam Salih et al, 2002;Godoy and Godoy, 2006;Fatima et al, 2006). Alam et al (1999) estimated the effective dose due to the intake of natural radionuclides from drinking water as shown below:…”

“…The activity concentrations for the natural radionuclides in the measured samples were computed using the following relation (Fatima et al, 2006):…”

Determination and mapping the spatial distribution of radioactivity of natural spring water in the Eastern Black Sea Region by using artificial neural network method

“…The activity concentrations of 40 K and 137 Cs were measured directly through the gamma line emission at 1460.8 and 661.6 keV. The activity concentrations for the natural radionuclides in the measured samples were computed using the following relation (Fatima et al 2007):…”