ASSESSMENT OF RADIONUCLIDE CONTENT AND ITS HEALTH RISKS IN GROUND WATER IN SELECTED COMMUNITIES IN BAYELSA STATE, NIGERIA

Existence of radionucleides in drinking water is a health concern especially when their values exceeded certain permissible levels, hence the study aimed at assessing the activity and health effects in a view to providing information on the quality of the drinking for effective planning, management and utilization. In this regard, the major objective was to determine empirical values of concentration and health indices in the sampled water. The method used in determining the activity was gamma spectroscopy followed by imputing the values of activities in known standard equations. Hand-held global positioning system (GPS) was used to determine the location of each borehole water source. Twenty-one water samples were collected, prepared and analyzed using Sodium iodide detector doped with Thaliun {NaI(TI)}. The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K ranged from below detectable level (BDL) at Otuadu and Ologi to 3.81 ± 0.54 Bq L−1 at Amuruto, from BDL at Abulabiri and Epebu to 3.46 ± 0.73 Bq L−1 at Otuogori, from 1.93 ± 0.91 at Ayakoro to 9.66 ± 0.89 Bq L−1 at Ologohe, respectively. The total annual committed effective dose for infant, children, teenagers and adult ranged from 0.77-22.18 mSvy-1, 0.21-5.19 mSvy-1, 0.72-13.09 mSvy-1 and 0.19-2.35 mSvy-1 respectively. The average total committed effective dose to infant, children, and teenagers and adult are 10.21, 2.39, 6.01 and 1.08 mSvy-1 respectively. The doses for all the age groups consuming the water slightly exceeded the permissible limit but the most vulnerable group to internal radiation exposure due to the intake of the ground water are infants followed by the teenagers. The results of cancer fatality risk and hereditary consequences evaluated for the adult, mortality and morbidity rates showed significant values that are higher than their recommended values. Generally, the ground water in this studied area could be said to be slightly polluted radiologically, hence purification should be carried out before ingestion

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