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Comparative study of two different water sources in the aspect of radiological exposure to the local population of Bageshwar, India

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Abstract

In the present study, 80 samples of water from hand pumps and 63 samples of tap water were collected from the Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand, state of India. The radon activity concentration is varied from 1 to 21 Bq/L with a mean value of 7 ± 4 Bq/L in tap water samples while for handpump water samples radon activity concentration is varied from 3 to 42 Bq/L with a mean value of 20 ± 9 Bq/L. The average radon level in drinking water in the study region was higher than the radon level in water of Haridwar and Karanprayag districts of Uttarakhand and lower than the radon level in the drinking water of Dehradun, New Tehri, Pauri Garhwal and Pithoragarh districts of Uttarakhand. The mathematical estimation of radiological dose due to inhalation and ingestion of radon in water was calculated and discussed in detail in this study. Age dependent effective dose is estimated to compare the radiological effect on different age-groups. The trend of the mean values of radon ingestion dose in distinct age-groups is likely to be as infants > adults > children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Gurukula Kangri Vishwavidyalaya Haridwar, 249404, Uttarakhand, India

    Ankur Kumar & Devendra Singh

  2. Department of physics, Govt. P. G. College New Tehri, 249001, Uttarakhand, India

    Poonam Semwal & Kuldeep Singh

  3. Department of physics, Govt. P. G. College Gopeshwar, 246401, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India

    Tushar Kandari

  4. Radiological Physics and Advisory Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, 400094, Mumbai, India

    Manish Joshi

  5. Uttarakhand Science Education and Research Centre, 248001, Dehradun, India

    Prakhar Singh

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  1. Ankur Kumar
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Kumar, A., Singh, D., Semwal, P. et al. Comparative study of two different water sources in the aspect of radiological exposure to the local population of Bageshwar, India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 1941–1949 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08238-9

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