Investigation of chemical and radioactive contamination level of the drinking water resources in Erbil City

Document Type : High quality original papers

Abstract

Fifty drinking water samples from different sources of Erbil city were examined for radioactivity pollution level. A Universal Monitor (UMo) for radiation protection was used for estimating the activity concentration in pCi/L (picoCurie per Liter) for U-238, Ra-226, Cs-137, and Sr-90 radionuclides. The activity concentration of these radionuclides in the entire samples was very low; no Sr-90 activity has been recorded, and no excess activity than safe levels were observed. The results showed some variations in activity ranging from: 2.12 pCi/L to 7.19 pCi/L for U-238, 1.52 pCi/L to 7.15 pCi/L for Ra-226, and 0.00 pCi/L to 0.02 pCi/L for Cs –137 throughout the region. Thus, from water consumption point of view, radioactively does not cause any public health concern. Different chemical tests like turbidity, pH, EC, chloride, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium have been done for the collected samples. No unusual concentrations were observed.

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