Radiological risk assessment to the public due to the presence of radon in water of Barnala district, Punjab, India.

Abstract

Various research studies have shown that exposure to radon gas is a cause of concern for health effects to the public. The present work has been carried out for the radiological risk assessment to the public due to the presence of radon isotopes in drinking water of Barnala district of Punjab, India, for the first time using scintillation-based radiationdetector. A total of 100 samples were collected from different sources of water (canal and underground water) from 25 villages on grid pattern of 6 × 6 km2 in the study area for uniform mapping. In situmeasurements were carried outto find out Rn-222 concentration in water samples. The measured values have been found to vary from 0.17 ± 0.01 to9.84 ± 0.59 BqL-1 with an average value of 3.37 ± 0.29 BqL-1, which is well below the recommended limit of 100 BqL-1(WHO 2004). The annual effective dose due to ingestion and inhalation of radon has also been calculated for various age groups like infants, children and adults to understand the age-wise dose distribution. The calculated values suggest that there is no significant health risk to the general public from radon in water.