A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON RADON CONCENTRATIONS AND HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF DRINKING WATER SAMPLES IN KILIS PROVINCE, TURKEY

Abstract

Determination of radon concentration in drinking water is very important to assessment whether it poses a health risk in terms of public health or not. For this purpose, radon (Rn-222) concentration of forty nine drinking water samples collected from Kilis province were determined by using CR-39 passive nuclear track detectors with closed-can technique in this study. The radon concentrations for drinking water samples were found between 0.69 and 6.93 Bq L-1 with average of 1.86 Bq All obtained values for radon concentrations were below 11.1 Bq L-1 that recommended as maximum contaminant level (MCL) by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). In addition, effective dose and population weighted fatal cancer risk due to Rn-222 in drinking waters were estimated. Average effective dose values were calculated to be 4.75 mu Sv y(-1), 4.69 mu Sv y(-1), 0.57 mu Sv y(-1) and 0.56 mu Sv y(-1) for ingestion, inhalation, stomach and lungs, respectively. All obtained effective dose values were well below the reference level that suggested as 0.1 mSv y(-1) by Word Health Organization (WHO). Population weighted fatal cancer risk varied from 2.62E-06 to 2.54E-04 and average value was found to be 3.07E-05 for Kilis province. In addition, per caput risk was estimated 1.99E-08 due to radon in drinking water samples. Investigated water samples for Kilis province were well below the permissible limits and have no risk to public health.