Analysis and Assessment of Gross Alpha and Beta in Drinking Water of Some Selected Areas of Gashua, Yobe State, Nigeria

Abstract

Water is an essential substance for human existence and his environment but water sources are often polluted by human activities and some natural phenomena which arises from waste and sewage disposal into rivers and streams. This study intends to assess the gross alpha and beta in Gashua, Yobe state, Nigeria using the protean MPC-2000-DP Proportional counter. The results revealed that, for the gross alpha, the activities concentration varied from 0.091 ± 0.0058 to 1.990 ± 0.1010 mSv/yr with an average of 0.574 ± 0.0308 mSv/yr, while for the gross beta, the values varied from 0.55 ± 0.014 to 9.47 ± 0.240 mSv/yr with an average of 2.91 ± 0.068 mSv/yr. Also, for the alpha, the CED values for the adult varied from 0.146 ± 0.009 to 3.196 ± 0.162 mSv/yr with an average of 0.922 ± 0.049 mSv/yr, the CED values for the children varied from 0.073 ± 0.006 to 1.598 ± 0.081 mSv/yr with an average of 0.461 ± 0.025 mSv/yr and the CED values for the infants varied from 0.037 ± 0.002 to 0.799 ± 0.041 mSv/yr with an average of 0.231 ± 0.012 mSv/yr. For the beta, the CED values for the adult varied from 0.883 ± 0.022 to 15.21 ± 0.385 mSv/yr with an average of 4.667 ± 0.110 mSv/yr, the CED values for the children varied from 0.442 ± 0.011 to 7.604 ± 0.193 mSv/ yr with an average of 2.334 ± 0.055 mSv/yr and the CED values for the infants varied from 0.221 ± 0.006 to 3.802 ± 0.096 mSv/yr with an average of 1.167 ± 0.027 mSv/yr. Based on the findings presented, most of these values are found to be above the World Health Organization recommended limit of 1 Bq/l except for few points. It is therefore assumed that the aggressive gross alpha activity might be attributed to uranium and radium and its alpha daughters which are contained in some of agro chemicals such as fertilizers while enhancement of gross beta activity in the area may be due to the increase in potassium concentration. agricultural fertilizers product contained various trace of elements such as Uranium and Thorium decay series members and 40K. It is therefore concluded that the water in the area under investigation is not a safe water for drinking, for this reason, it strongly recommended that there should be public health law, to safeguard the lives of the inhabitants, seasonal study of the radioactivity of ground water in the mentioned areas should be conducted to check whether the radio activity is affected by season and there is also need to extend these research in the entire Gashua town so as to have a comprehensive study of the entire ground water in the town.