Investigation of Radon Concentration in Drinking Water in Some Selected Areas of Sokoto, Nigeria

A.W. Adetoro¹ , A. Bello² , A. Yakubu³ , S.T. Sununu⁴ , A. Usman⁵ , M. Sulieman⁶

Section:Research Paper, Product Type: Journal-Paper
Vol.9 , Issue.6 , pp.86-91, Dec-2021

Online published on Dec 31, 2021

Copyright © A.W. Adetoro, A. Bello, A. Yakubu, S.T. Sununu, A. Usman, M. Sulieman . This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 

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Abstract :
Water is one of the most plentiful and important natural resources in the universe. Because of the varying levels of radioactivity in water, the concentration of radon in water needs to be determined for radiation protection. In this study, the radon concentration in groundwater (Borehole and well water) samples were collected in different parts of Sokoto state, Nigeria. Twenty (20) groundwater (6 well water and 14 borehole water) samples were collected and measured using a Liquid scintillation counter (Tri-Carb LSA 1000TR). Most of the values of the radon are below the maximum contamination level (MCL) of 10Bq/L recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), “Bello Way” with 22.97Bq/L, and “Gidan Kuka” with 4.08Bq/L having the highest and lowest value of radon concentration respectively. The mean values of radon concentrations were found to be 12.00Bq/L and 10.00Bq/L for Well water and Borehole water source respectively. The values of the estimated annual effective dose were found to be mostly below the recommended reference level of 0.1mSv/yr set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The mean value of the estimated annual effective dose due to ingestion was found to be 0.087mSv/yr and 0.074mSv/yr for Well water and Borehole water respectively. These results indicate generally that there is no probability of health hazards for the public due to the presence of radon in groundwater and it is safe for consumption.

Key-Words / Index Term :
Radon, borehole, well water, Effective dose

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