Measurements of gross alpha and beta activity in drinking water from Galati region, Romania

摘要

In this study gross alpha and gross beta activities have been determined in136 drinking water samples collected in 2014 from all over the territory of GalatiCounty, Romania. Water sources that have been used for producing drinking water inGalati are: drilled wells, spring water and surface water (from the Danube River). Thegross alpha activity and gross beta activity ranged from < 6.00 to 85.24 mBq L-1, andfrom < 25.00 to 438.85 mBq L-1, repectively. There was not registered any exceedingof the maximum allowed limits for gross alpha activity (100 mBq L-1), and gross betaactivity (1000 mBq L-1) stipulated in the national legislation. The values obtained inthis study were compared with those presented in similar studies from Romania andother regions of the world and with average values reported in Romania in 2014. Thehighest values, both for gross alpha activity and gross beta activity were determined indrinking water which had the main source the drilled wells. For 84.6% of the analysedsamples, the ratio between gross alpha activity and gross beta activity is lower than 1.Assuming that the entire gross alpha and beta activity is due to the most radiotoxicnatural radionuclides 210Po (alpha emitter), and 228Ra (beta emitter), the calculatedaverages of the effective doses due to water ingestion by adults (age >17 years) were19.43 Sv y-1 and 38.17 Sv y-1, respectively, which are lower than the recommendedWHO value of 100 Sv y-1.