title: Activity concentration and radiological impact assessment of 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K in drinking waters from (OML) 30, 58 and 61 oil fields and host communities in Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
abstract: This paper presents the concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides ((226)Ra, (228)Ra and (40)K) measured in hand dug wells, boreholes and river waters collected from three oil mineral leases (OML) 30, 58 & 61 oil and gas fields onshore of the Niger delta, using gamma spectroscopy. Fifty-four water samples from the three sources of drinking water supply were collected within the oil fields and host communities and three water samples from a control site. The results showed average activity concentrations of (226)Ra, (228)Ra and (40)K as 8.9 ± 1.0, 8.1 ± 0.9 and 39.8 ± 3.3 respectively for hand dug wells, 4.4 ± 0.8, 4.6 ± 0.5 and 28.5 ± 3.0 for borehole water and 8.2 ± 1.0, 6.7 ± 0.7 and 32.1 ± 3.5 for river water respectively. These (226)Ra, (228)Ra and (40)K average are well above the WHO permissible levels of 1.0, 0.1 and 10 BqL(-1) respectively and also above the control values. Although the hazard indices calculated are still within their tolerable levels, the estimated committed effective dose due to intake of the sampled water for all the four age groups considered are far above the ICPR 0.1 mSvyr(-1) maximum permissible limit. The result indicates some level of water pollution in the studied area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Nigeria. ezek64@yahoo.com
authors.forename: E O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Agbalagba
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Avwiri
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Ononugbo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000032:analysis*; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009549:Nigeria; D010578:Petroleum; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water; D010578:Petroleum; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D011883:Radium