Abstract
The oil and gas rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria is characterized by environmental degradation leading to environmental pollution from oil and gas activities. This study examined the gross α and β activity in thirty (river/stream, well and tap) water samples collected from ten oil fields in the Western Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The counting system employed in this analysis is the Gas-flow proportional counter {Eurisys Measure IN20 low- background multiple (eight) channel counter}. Gross alpha activity concentration range from 0.01±0.002 to 0.7±0.01 (0.15±0.003) Bql-1, 0.01±0.003 to 0.5±0.01 (0.1±0.003)Bql-1and 0.02±0.001 to 35.1±1.1 (4.1±0.1) Bql-1 while beta activity concentration ranged from 1.1±0.04 to 13.2±0.1 (6.0±0.1) Bql-1, 0.7±0.1 to 54.7±1.3 (8.9±0.2)Bql-1 and 0.7±0.03 to 151.2±1.8 (40.1±0.9)Bql-1 for well, tap and river waters respectively. Correlation value between α and β activities in well, tap and river water is 0.025, 0.047 and 0.512 respectively. The results show that except for the alpha activity in the tap water samples, the average natural activity concentrations of α- and β-emitting radionuclides in the samples are slightly above the WHO recommended limit. For all samples the gross β activities are higher than the corresponding gross α activities. The mean effective equivalent dose intake per year due to alpha activity in the water samples for adults and infants are: 76.4±1.8 and 20.9±55μSvy-1, 54.6±1.3 and 14.9±0.4 μSvy-1, and 2118±70 and 584±19.2μSvy-1 in well, tap, and river water samples respectively. The results obtained for dose intake are below the WHO recommended reference level of 0.1mSvy-1, except for the water sample from Uzere river. This study indicates that the water sources evaluated, especially the rivers, are contaminated radiologically. @JASEM
Highlights
Background radiation level detectionThe background radioactivity counting procedure adopted in this study is as previously reported elsewhere (Onoja, et al, 2004a; Avwiri and Agbalagba, 2007, and Muhammad, et al, 2010)
The objectives of this study is to evaluate the gross alpha and beta radioactivity in water from well water, boreholes and river/creek water in ten oil fields and their host communities in Land Production area of Delta state, Western Niger Delta of Nigeria, and to establish the distribution pattern of radioactivity measured in the study area
Study Area : This study was carried out in oil fields located within the oil mining lease 30 (OML 30) onshore Western Niger Delta of Nigeria (Fig. 1)
Summary
Background radiation level detectionThe background radioactivity counting procedure adopted in this study is as previously reported elsewhere (Onoja, et al, 2004a; Avwiri and Agbalagba, 2007, and Muhammad, et al, 2010). The results indicate reproducibility in all the six adopted channels of the counter. It gives an average background radiation activity of 0.17Bq for alpha in the alphaonly mode and 1.13Bq for beta in the beta-only mode. These values are representative of the environment and could be employed in the subsequent measurement of the water samples. . Statistical Analysis:A bar chart of alpha and beta activities of the different water sources were compared with the WHO standard to verify if they are within regulatory limits. A linear correlation of alpha and beta activities in the different water sources was run to ascertain the relationship between them
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