Journal of Environmental Biology

Radon activity measurements in irrigation water from Qassim Province by RAD7 

A.   El-Taher^1,2* and Ahmad Al-Turki^1,3

¹Promising Research Center in Biological Control and Agricultural Information (BCARC), Qassim University,

Buraydah-51452, Saudi Arabia.

²Physics department, College of Science, Qassim University, Buraydah-51452, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

³College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah-51452, Saudi Arabia.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: atef.eltaher@gmail.com

Publication Data

Paper received:

14 September 2015

Revised received:

18 January 2016 

Re-revised received:

29 February 2016

Accepted:

19 March 2016

Abstract

The present study deals with investigating radon level in groundwater, which is being used for irrigation in the environs of Qassim province, Saudi Arabia. Ninety nine samples of groundwater were collected from eight cities in Qassim province. Radon concentrations in the collected water samples were measured with RAD7 electronic radon detector connected to RAD- H2O accessory (Durridge Co., USA).? The concentration of? 222Rn in? 99 irrigation groundwater samples ranged from 1.20 to 15.43 Bq l-1Radon level in? 5 samples 2 from Al-Asyah, 2 from Al shamasia and one sample from Al Moznib exceeded the permissible level of radon 11 Bq l-1 in groundwater. The total annual effective dose varied with increase in radon concentration. The calculated effective dose per liter (EDL) and annual effective dose (AED) ranged from 6.1 to 77.15 nSvL-1 and 4.45 to 56.16 μSv y-1, respectively. It was evident that the total annual effective doses resulting from radon in 95% from groundwater in Qassim area were significantly lower than the permissible limit of 1 mSv y-1 for the public.?

 Key words

RAD7, Irrigation water, Aeration, Purging, Qassim province

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