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Radon Gas Measurement in Water Samples in Kahramanmaras Province of Turkey

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Abstract

In this study, a total of 42 water samples were collected from Karasu and Pınarbası, which are two drinking water sources feeding the Kahramanmaras city center water distribution network, from sixteen cisterns fed from these water sources and twenty-four tap water receiving water from the cisterns. Radon concentrations and radon inhalation rates of these water samples were determined using a CR-39 passive trace detector. In natural spring water samples, radon concentrations and exhalation rates ranged from 174.7 ±18.7 Bq/m3 to 211.7± 30.7 ±10.7 Bq/m3 and 5.6 ± 0.6 mBq/m2h to 6.8 ± 1.0 mBq/m2h. In cistern water samples, radon concentrations and exhalation rates ranged from 80.6 ± 3.9 Bq/m3 to 303.0 ± 21.8 Bq/m3 and from 2.6 ± 0.1 mBq/m2h to 9.8 ± 0.7 mBq/m2h, respectively. In tap water samples, radon concentrations and exhalation rates ranged from 99.3 ± 5.5 Bq/m3 to 305.8 ±10.7 Bq/m3 and from 3.2 ± 0.2 mBq/m2h to 9.9 ± 0.4 mBq/m2h, respectively. These values are compared to the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States of America (USEPA), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), the European Union (EU) Commission, and the World Health Organization (WHO)’s drinking water safe limit values. As a result, it has been determined that these values are far below the recommended safe limit values for drinking water. Also, the results of this study’s radon and exhalation rate tests are compared to those of comparable studies conducted in Turkey and other countries.

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Acknowledgements

The CR-39 track detectors and diffusion cups were kindly provided by the Çekmece Nuclear Research and Training Center. The authors would like to express his gratitude to Professor Mahmut Doğru who is a higher education institution supervisory board member The authors would like to thank Associate Professor Sultan Şahin, who is a teacher at Department of Physics, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, the University of Bitlis Eren, for helping to take of track on CR-39 detectors. In addition, the authors would like to thank Professor Cumhur Canbazolu, a teacher at the University of Kilis 7 Aralk’s Department of Physics, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, for his assistance in counting radon traces on photographs.

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  1. Department of Materials and Material Processing, Vocational School of Technical Sciences, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, 46100, K. Maras, Turkey

    Erdal Küçükönder

  2. Department of Physics, Institute of Science, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, 46100, K. Maras, Turkey

    Serdar Gümbür

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  1. Erdal Küçükönder
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Küçükönder, E., Gümbür, S. Radon Gas Measurement in Water Samples in Kahramanmaras Province of Turkey. Water Air Soil Pollut 233, 175 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-022-05631-8

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