Appraising the gross radiological content of underground water use for domestic purposes within an ancient tin mining village in Bokkos local government of Plateau state, Nigeria.

Abstract

Water sources are often being polluted by some human activities and natural phenomena, thus adversely affecting the quality of water. Some of the pollutants are Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMs). One water sample was collected from ten different wells within Butura Kampani. Each sample was taken in a two-liter plastic container. 10ml of concentrated Nitric acid was immediately added into each sample to prevent adhesion of radionuclides with the wall of the container. The samples were counted for gross alpha and beta activity concentration using a proportional counter (MPC 2000) at centre for energy research Zaria. The results obtained showed that gross alpha activity concentrations range from 0.0042±0.00093 Bq/L to 0.13406±0.00050Bq/L with an average value of 0.02714±0.00235Bq/L while the gross beta activity concentrations ranges from 0.01405±0.00245 Bq/L to 0.37883±0.02576Bq/L with an average value of 0.7439±0.00479 Bq/L. The results revealed that the gross alpha and gross beta activity concentrations are below the ICRP and WHO permissible limits of 0.5Bq/L and 1.0Bq/L respectively, for drinking water.