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Quantification of radon contamination in drinking water of Rajasthan, India

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Abstract

The current investigation represents the annual effective dose received due to ingestion and inhalation of radon present in drinking water. As radon itself contributes 3–14% towards the total proportion of lung cancer (WHO in Handbook on indoor radon. A public health perspective, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2009). The samples were taken from Sri Ganganagar region of Rajasthan province in India to calculate radon concentration and thereby to study the health risk. Total 100 water samples were taken from different sources of water which have been classified into two different categories as underground water and surface water sources. In-situ measurements of Rn-222 concentration was carried out using scintillation based radon monitor. The values of Rn-222 concentration were found to lie between 0.13 ± 0.04 and 3.74 ± 0.26 BqL−1 with mean value of 0.92 ± 0.12 BqL−1. These values are far below the maximum contamination level of 100 BqL−1, recommended by WHO, 2004 (Guidelines for drinking-water quality, WHO, Geneva, 2004). The ingestion and inhalation doses have been calculated for infants, children and adults from the derived radon concentration. The calculated doses are below the recommended level of 100 µSvy−1 (World Health Organisation in Guidelines for drinking water quality. Health criteria and other information, WHO Press, Geneva, 2003).

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the prodigious efforts of Sandeep Kanse for providing financial assistance from DAE-BRNS (Grant No. 36(4)/14/29/2016-BRNS/36032). The authors express gratitude to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for the comments on the earlier version of the manuscript that greatly improved the structure and content of this manuscript. We appreciate the efforts of Supriya Rani for her expeditious support to carry out field investigation. A sincere thank you to Salik Nazir for his meticulous proofreading of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda, 151001, India

    Amit Kumar Singla & Sandeep Kansal

  2. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, 144011, India

    Rohit Mehra

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Amit Kumar Singla and Sandeep Kansal designed the research plan and wrote the manuscript with contributions from Rohit Mehra. Amit Kumar Singla carried out all the radioactive surveys and analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sandeep Kansal.

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Singla, A.K., Kansal, S. & Mehra, R. Quantification of radon contamination in drinking water of Rajasthan, India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 327, 1149–1157 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07599-x

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